


There and Back Again: A Ranger's Tale

by GeistAdamant



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Cherno Alpha - Freeform, Crimson Typhoon - Freeform, Emotionally Constipated Morons, Gipsy Danger - Freeform, Hong Kong Shatterdome, I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED BUT IT DID AND IT IS THERE AND I REGRET NOTHING, Jaegers, Kaiju War, Striker Eureka - Freeform, a bit of a verbal sounding board if you will, also a deadpool reference snuck itself into this story, and i am 70 percent confident that i wrote the last 3 or so chapters half asleep, and i meant for my oc to serve as a sort of friend to Chuck, and i swear to god these bastards were stubborn as hell and tried driving me off my nut writing this, because i live in denial about the double event, but NOOOOOOOOOO she wanted to go off and do something completely different, but it's so insubstantial to the story and it is mostly contained to one chapter, but let's be fucking honest everyone in this story has problems, mentions of other jaegers, my oc has a bit of a problem, pacific rim fix it, rated t for language and some fight scenes, there are some references to SOA in this, y'all know of whom i speak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-07-16 17:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 45,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7277347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeistAdamant/pseuds/GeistAdamant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how one woman wanted more than anything to be a ranger after losing her family and got there… eventually.  But not without picking up a ragtag, fiercely loyal family of her own along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Day It Went to Hell in a Handbasket Decorated in Ribbon

‘Kaiju’ was a term that was foreign to so many – Aurora Talmadge included.  Sure, she knew that kaiju translated into ‘strange monster’ from Japanese (her freshman year roommate in college had been into the kaiju movies of Japan).  But that day it took on new meaning for everyone.  She watched the footage of Trespasser going nuts on San Francisco.  Like everyone else, she’d held her loved ones close and watched the news.

 

35 miles, 6 days, 3 cities destroyed and countless lives lost.  And God only knew how long it would be before the water and land affected by the nuclear warheads and bits of monster would be safe for habitation and consumption.

 

Aurora was then hit with her own tragedy.  Her own ‘K-Day’ as such events were bitterly called.  Her boyfriend’s son, a boy she loved like he was her own, had died.  Kaiju blue – the name the media had dubbed the poisonous blood of those monsters – had made it to a beach a couple hour’s easy drive from Charming.

 

No one knew then that besides dissipating into a poisonous mist, kaiju blue could float in more solid form on the surface of water, was practically the same color as the ocean in the right light.

 

Abel’s death tore Aurora and Jax apart.  They did try, but everything culminated shortly afterward in this sound barrier breaking fight in which many things were smashed, broken and thrown.

 

Aurora left Charming behind, sold her house and enrolled in the Jaeger Academy.  She wanted – needed – to channel her frustration, rage and grief into _something_.

 

The Jaeger Academy – to that end – was perfect for her.  Every night she went to bed sore and aching and covered in bruises.  But every night passed without dreams.  No dreams of Abel.  None of Jax.  None of home.

 

Aurora graduated in the first class, that of 2015.  She ends up being assigned to the Shatterdome in Russia, Vladivostok.  Aurora had wanted to be a pilot but she was drift compatible with no one in her class.  That had been hard, finding out none of the others in her class had any sort of drift compatibility with her.

 

So, for the next six years she works instead in the LOCCENT of the Vladivostok Shatterdome, providing support to any jaegers deployed in the field against the kaiju.  Most the time it was the Kaidonovsky’s.  Aleksis and Sasha had, for some reason, befriended her, taken her under their wing.  She’s not too sure why since she wasn’t that much younger than Aleksis.

 

The quasi-adoption of her by the Kaidonovsky’s might have had something to do with her first birthday in Vladivostok.  Though Aurora never found out how _they_ found out, Aleksis and Sasha had turned up at her quarters that night with one of the (many) bottles of vodka they were rumored to have stashed in the Shatterdome.  They declared that birthdays were something that should be celebrated, even in times of war.  One bottle of vodka turned into four and found the three of them pretty damn drunk and rummaging through the kitchen well after lights out.

 

“I found oranges!” Aleksis declared, triumphantly holding one aloft.  “Kitchen staff have been – Rory what is wrong?”

 

“Oranges were Abel’s favorite.” Aurora drunkenly sniffed.

 

“Who is Abel?” Sasha asked Aurora, the confused look on his face becoming more pronounced when Aurora burst into tears.

 

Both Russians are incredibly confused at this never before displayed behavior, and neither quite knows how to proceed.

 

“Is Abel dea—deceased boyfriend or husband?” Aleksis asked, positively gentle.

 

“No.” Aurora hiccupped.

 

In a rambling, drunk and teary way Aurora told Sasha and Aleksis the story.  Some part of her knows she wouldn’t be telling this story if she were sober and another part of her hopes they’ll both have forgotten come morning.  Especially when Aurora later foggily remembers she used names.

 

Aurora woke up the next morning in what she later termed a ‘Kaidonovsky sandwich.’  She doesn’t remember how (Aurora had been very drunk last night) but Sasha, Aleksis and Aurora had ended up back in the married pilot’s quarters and their bed; Aurora’s torso sprawled almost completely sideways over Sasha’s chest and Aleksis was hugged up against Aurora’s back.

 

Aurora’s head was pounding like it was the proverbial blacksmith’s anvil and her eyes were puffy and burning from feeling so dry after all the crying.

 

“I have never drank so much alcohol before.” Aurora moaned.  It might’ve actually sounded more like “I h’v nevrr drank soo mush alkerhol befur.”

 

“We turn you into Russian, hangover will be no problem.” Aleksis mumbled, her voice gravelly from sleep.

 

For the next several years, when they weren’t fighting kaiju Aleksis and Sasha certainly tried to ‘turn Aurora into Russian.’

 

Aurora could now speak fluent Russian and she could cook a variety of Russian dishes (courtesy of Sasha who was an _amazing_ cook) and her tolerance for vodka had gone  way up.

 

And in recent years there had been reason enough to increase one’s alcohol intake.  Aurora had felt then and still felt now that Knifehead represented a turning point in the war against the kaiju.

 

The kaiju were learning, they were evolving and they started losing more jaegers, more pilots.  With every loss, no matter the Shatterdome they were based from, those based in Vladivostok did a toast in their memory.

 

Aurora even traveled with the Marshal of Vladivostok and a few others to the funeral held in Anchorage for Yancy Becket.  His brother had not been there, still in the recovery wing at the Icebox.

 

Aurora ran into an ‘old classmate,’ if you will, at the funeral.  She remembered Herc Hansen as a bit gruff, emotionally bunged up and 100% Australian.  He remembered Aurora and introduced her to his son, Chuck, who apparently was a recent graduate of the Jaeger Academy.

 

“I’m going to be the youngest jaeger pilot, ever.” Chuck proudly informed Aurora.

 

Aurora had no doubt he would be, too, with that attitude.

 

“Speaking of jaeger’s, did you ever find a co-pilot, Talmadge?” Herc asked.

 

“Nope.  I’ve been working in LOCCENT in Vladivostok.”

 

“Since graduation?  They’ve not tried to reassign you?”

 

“Nah, I think Aleksis and Sasha would throw a big ol’ hissy if the PPDC tried.  And trust me, you do _not_ want to see the tantrum those two are capable of pitching.”

 

“You know the _Kaidonovksy’s_?!” Chuck interjected, his voice dripping with all the amazement a 16 year old (who’s just found out something incredibly shocking) can muster.

 

“Yeah, I’ve worked with them the last 5 years or so.”

 

Meeting Chuck when he was that young and starry-eyed was cute.  Or, that’s what Aurora thought.  Not that she ever would have told him to his face.

 

She ran into Chuck again at her hotel later on that night – it had turned out during their conversation that the Australian duo had checked into the same hotel.

 

Chuck was sitting in an empty corner of the lobby, bouncing a tennis ball off the wall while a little pile of wrinkles tried to catch it.

 

“What’s the puppy’s name?” Aurora asked as she sat down next to Chuck.

 

“Max.  He’s an English bulldog.  M’ dad got him for me when I graduated.”

 

“He seems a sweet puppy.” Aurora told Chuck as Max came over to investigate why the ball wasn’t being thrown anymore.  “That must mean his owner is nice, too.”

 

“How d’you figure, Aurora?”

 

“Dogs reflect their owners, don’t they?  A mean person has a dog that dog will be bad-tempered and mean.  And vice-versa for a nice person owning a dog.”

 

“Oh.” Chuck said.  “Hadn’t thought of it like that.  It sort of makes sense.  Are the Kaidonovsky’s here?” He asked, switching tracks suddenly.

 

“No.  They’re still in Vladivostok, just in case, you know?”

 

“Totally.” Chuck agreed as Aurora lavished attention on Max, who reciprocated by slobbering all over the knees of Aurora’s sweatpants.

 

“They asked me to come for them.  I think it’s rattled all of us – the way Yancy died.”

 

“I heard from my dad that he died still drifting with Raleigh.”

 

“I’ve heard the same.  And that isn’t something I would wish on anyone in the world.  No one deserves that kind of agony.”

 

“D’you think Raleigh’ll be okay?”

 

Aurora looked at Chuck.  The kid had a clear case of hero worship going on.  Maybe it was dampened by worry for his hero’s health and dampened by attending a funeral, but Chuck was definitely a Raleigh Becket fan.

 

“I dunno.” Aurora finally managed.  “It’s up to the guy himself if he ends up being okay.”

 

Chuck and Aurora end up talking for so long that Max falls asleep stretched between their laps (front half on Chuck, his back half on Aurora).  And before the Vladivostok party leaves to head back to their ‘dome, Aurora and Chuck exchange addresses – to keep in touch.  They end up keeping up a pretty regular correspondence, interruptions to mail service notwithstanding.  Every time Chuck killed a kaiju in the next five years, Aurora got an ‘excited’ play by play in the next mail delivery.

 

Aurora was happy for him, but she also worried for Chuck in the same way she worried about Sasha and Aleksis every time they went out to fight a kaiju.  But Chuck’s letters were a bright spot as the UN kept slashing PPDC funding until one by one the Shatterdomes began to be shut down and sold to private buyers or allowed to fall into ruin and neglected.  By the time of Vladivostok’s closure, Cherno Alpha was the last jaeger left there.  And then Cherno and her pilots and crew and Aurora were seconded to the Shatterdome in Hong Kong – the only Shatterdome still open.

 

Aurora knew things were not looking good for the PPDC, she had heard the rumours same as everyone else about the budget cuts and funding issues.  Aurora had seen the interviews where Lars Gottlieb denounced the Jaeger Program as an ineffectual and iniquitous waste of money that could no longer be justified.  Aurora had thrown paper she had been using to cushion breakables as she was packing at the television.  Sasha threw a hammer through the television when some pundit who’d been anti-jaeger from the beginning profusely and lavishly praised the Wall of Life.

 

“When has wall ever, in history, fulfilled purpose?” Sasha asked.  “Morons.  Wall of Life and Gottlieb will get us all killed.”

 

“At least they haven’t shut us down completely.” One of Cherno Alpha’s mechanics’ said.

 

“They’ve neutered us, which is almost as bad.” Aurora responded.  “Moving the last three jaegers to one Shatterdome?  That is just dumbass thinking.  Anywhere that’s basically not China and Japan and bits of Russia are fucked.”

 

And then came move in day.  Well, move in week actually.  Aurora had seen the Wei Tang triplets at a distance as she had been moving boxes and unpacking her own things in her quarters (her room was actually slightly bigger than her room in Vladivostok had been, if one could consider that a bonus).  Later on, Aurora headed into the mess in search of a snack to dull a hunger-induced headache.

 

Thoughts of food and snacks fly right out of her head as Aurora walks in on a brewing fight between Aleksis, Sasha and the Wei’s.


	2. Empathizing Bitching, Moaning, and Ukrainian Hard House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do not, under any circumstances, insult UKH within hearing distance of the Kaidanovsky's. Just don't. And some more Teenage!Chuck and Puppy!Max. And the first indicators of Aurora's issues come up.

“Oh, for the love of God.” Changing direction, Aurora headed to try and mediate this out before a full-blown brawl erupted in the mess.

 

“What’s going on?” Aurora asked Aleksis.

 

“They do not like Ukrainian Hard House.” Aleksis all but growled.  “They insulted it when it was playing jaeger bay.  Sasha offered to explain what is wrong with _them_.” She narrowed her eyes in a menacing fashion at the three totally unimpressed triplets.

 

“Sasha,” Aurora sighed.  “I know you and Sasha love that music, but there are still kaiju to be fought.  Can’t you and the Wei’s wait to argue until _after_ the Breach is closed?”

 

“This is matter of honor.” Aleksis declared.

 

Aurora resisted – barely – the temptation to facepalm.  The last thing they needed was a fight that saw any of the pilots put out of commission.

 

In the end, despite doing her best to plead with the Kaidonovsky’s it takes Herc showing up to dispel the argument.  Aleksis and Sasha walked away saying some of the dirtiest Russian insults Aurora had ever heard.  But she was pretty sure the Wei’s were doing the same in Cantonese.

 

“What was that about?” Chuck asked, startling Aurora.

 

“Jesus, Chuck!”

 

“Sorry.” Chuck grinned, totally unapologetic, reaching into his chip bag and tossing one into his mouth.  “So, what was that whole Chinese-Russian showdown about?”

 

“Apparently, the Wei’s insulted Ukrainian Hard House where Aleksis and Sasha could hear them.  I was looking for a snack when I walked in on it.”

 

“Ah.  I see.  Chip?” Chucked offered the bag.

 

“Thanks.” Aurora says, grabbing a small handful.  “So, how have you been?”

 

“Good.  Aside from the kaiju, nothing much to complain of.  The old man’s still grouchy as ever.”

 

Aurora smiled.  “How’s Max?”

 

“Sleeping in the quarter’s I got with my old man.  Wanna go spar in the kwoon?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Aurora went off to change and met Chuck in the kwoon.  The sparring match did Aurora good; it felt pretty good to get her muscles stretched and give them a work out – and work out the stress of the preceding weeks.

 

“You’re old… but you still got it.” Chuck panted after Aurora finally managed to disarm him.

 

“Of course I do, you little shit.” Aurora breathily replied, dropping onto the mat and lying on her back.  “Someone’s got to keep your ‘tude in check.  And I am not old.”

 

“Oh, fuck you.” Chuck grinned.

 

“I am nearly a decade older than you – no.”

 

Chuck laughed at that one, his laughter slowly dying down.  “I wish our drift compatibility had been stronger.  We would’ve been good, made a good team.”

 

“Me too.” Aurora quietly agreed.

 

3 weeks after Aurora’s return to Vladivostok, the Marshal received a request from the Marshal of the Sydney ‘dome.  Could they spare Aurora for a few days?  They wanted to see if it were possible for me (Aurora) to drift with Chuck Hansen.

 

Aurora was given 1 week’s leave and sent on her way with wishes of good luck from Sasha and Aleksis.  They both knew how badly Aurora wanted to be a jaeger pilot.  They also knew how frustrating Aurora found the whole situation – she was perfectly capable of piloting a jaeger but then there were the drift compatibility problems that made her dream an impossibility.

 

In some ways the trip to Sydney turned out to be more frustrating than the initial drift tests at the academy.

 

Chuck had been waiting in the too-bright sunshine on the helipad with his father and the Marshal.

 

“Marshal Garnier, ma’am.” Aurora spoke respectfully to her superior, nodding her head.

 

“Ranger Talmadge, thank you for agreeing to travel all the way from Vladivostok.  You of course remember Ranger Hansen and Ranger Hansen.”

 

“Yes, ma’am, I do.  Hello, gentleman.”

 

“Ranger Talmadge, you’re looking… pale.” Herc says, twinkle in his eye.

 

Aurora bit back the sarcastic retort waiting to come out of her mouth because the Marshal was right there.

 

“Hi, Aurora.” Chuck is practically vibrating with enthusiasm and excitement.  Aurora recognized the signs of a newly minted pilot chomping at the bit to get into a jaeger.

 

“Hey, Chuck.”

 

“We’ve had guest quarters prepared for you.  Chuck can show you to them.”

 

“Thank you, ma’am.” Aurora is ready to lie down and rest and glad of the tacit dismissal.

 

Chuck takes Aurora’s bag from her, after a look from his dad, and the pair bid farewell to their superior officers before heading inside.

 

“How can you take being somewhere so fucking _sunny_?”

 

“Because I missed the sun when I was at the Academy.  And my mum’s buried here.”

 

Aurora tries to not visibly wince when Chuck mentions his mother; she should’ve realized sooner why Chuck would be okay with this posting above all others.

 

“Sorry about my disparaging crack about how sunny Sydney is.” Aurora apologized.

 

“S’okay.” Chuck shrugged, casting his eyes at the ground.  “Not like I ever told you.”

 

“How’s Max doing?” Aurora asked, quickly jumping on the first topic change to occur to her.

 

“Good, really good.  He’s almost completely potty-trained.  Can – D’you want me to bring him by your quarters?  After you’ve rested?”

 

“Yeah, sure.  I’d like that.”

 

Chuck’s smile is small, but genuine.  They walk, talking about this and that before Chuck stopped halfway down one hallway.

 

“Here you go, your quarters.  I’ll come get you around supper time.”

 

Aurora is asleep the second her head hit the pillow.  The chopper ride to Tokyo and then a cargo plane to Perth and then a final chopper flight to Sydney completely wiped her out.

 

And Aurora woke up only because something was licking her ear and huffing stinky hot air into said ear.

 

“Maaaaax.” Aurora heard the exasperated whisper and then there’s pitiful whining as Max is lifted off the bed.

 

“Izzat how y’greet people in ‘straya?” Aurora griped, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth from sleep.

  
“Jet lagged much?” Chuck sniggered.  “What’s wrong with your arm?” He asked moments later.

 

Aurora attempted to resist the urge to yank down the shirt sleeve that had ridden up.  What she does instead is sigh and sit up.

 

“Guess I might as well tell you a bit about this,” Aurora lazily gestured to her arm, scrubbing her face, stalling for a moment.  “Don’t freak out, ‘cuz 1) you’re under age and I’m not into guys vastly younger than me and 2) you aren’t my type.” Aurora then proceeded to pull her top off after hitting the switch to turn on the overhead lights.

 

“What the…” Chuck’s voice trails off as Aurora slowly spun on the spot.

 

“They’re all over my body, but I’m not taking my trousers off.  They’re the scars you get when non-neutralized kaiju blue hits your skin and doesn’t kill you.”

 

“And you say they’re _all over you_?” Chuck asked with big eyes as Aurora pulled her shirt back on.

 

“It was a few weeks after Trespasser.  I’d been seeing this guy for a while – I started out as his son’s nanny.  Ab – the little boy – was four, almost five.  He’d been begging to go to the beach for weeks, wanted me and his dad to take him.

 

“But his dad was busy with work and – and other stuff.  This was before we knew what non-distilled kaiju blue did to a person.  Or that it could float on the water in the right circumstances.  So, he tells me to take the boy to the beach without him.  I figured we were far enough away that any ill effects from Trespasser and the military wouldn’t… hurt us.  We weren’t the only ones that day that had that idea.

 

“He ran in ahead of me… he was so excited.  I dived into the ocean to pull my boy out when he started to scream… and… and we burned.”

 

Chuck, looking both older and younger than his 16 years, sinks down on the bed next to Aurora.  “What happened to the little boy?”

 

“H-he died.  The youngest victim of that day.  His death tore his father and I apart.  I left town, left the sale of my home to a third party, and… I enlisted in the PPDC.  Graduated in 2015, a member of the first class.  And every time I get frustrated about not having a co-pilot and not being able to pilot a jaeger, I just look at my scars and remind myself of why I’m doing this.”  Aurora took a deep breath, bending down to scoop Max off the floor and cuddle him.

 

“Anyway, I’m sorry about telling you such a depressing, heavy story but – I figure it’s probably best I tell you now instead of you stumbling on it if we can drift together.”

 

Chuck nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallowed nervously.  “I… I, uh, appreciate you telling me.  And… sorry about what happened to you… and the kid.”

 

“Thanks.” Aurora scratched Max’s head, grateful for the grounding feeling of the puppy’s weight in her arms.  He licked at Aurora’s fingers and wiggled deeper into her arms.  “Any chance you can show me to the mess?”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

The food was decent, for a Shatterdome.  At least there was no borscht.  Despite their best efforts, Sasha and Aleksis could never get Aurora to like borscht.  She had tried it, willingly, but there was just something about the taste to her.

 

After lunch, Chuck dropped Max off in the quarters he shared with his father and they headed to the kwoon.

 

There were a couple people sparring in there already when they arrived.  Aurora and Chuck got a few looks of curiosity, but they were left alone.  The pair took off their shoes and grabbed some hanbo’s out of one of the wall racks dotted about the large room.

 

“C’mon, Chuck, show me what a graduate fresh out of the Academy can do.” Aurora teased.

 

“Alright.” Chuck drawled, laying his accent on thick.

 

Chuck might have been a good 10 years younger than Aurora and he might have had a good 4 or more inches on her, but there was one advantage Aurora definitely knew she had: sparring with Aleksis Kaidonovsky.

 

It turned out to be a pretty even match between them, all things considered.  And that mean the both of them could be cautiously optimistic when the time came to actually try a drift.

 

The drift test is scheduled for 3 days after her arrival, to give Aurora time to recover from jetlag and travelling.

 

The evening before the drift test, Herc found Aurora in the jaeger bay, legs swinging in the air, sitting on the gangplank, looking at the behemoths before her.

 

“She’s a beaut, isn’t she?” Herc remarked, handing Aurora a beer before sitting.

 

“Thanks.” Aurora said, taking a sip of beer.  “And, yeah, this one is real nice.  But, you would think that way about Lucky Seven.”

 

Herc chuckled, it’s a hoarse, dry sound.  “I suppose I would be a bit biased about my jaeger.  Though, from things I’ve overheard, there’s gonna be a new jaeger in this bay soon.  A Mark V.  That could be your jaeger.  And Chuck’s.”

 

“Provided we have enough compatibility.  You’ll forgive me for sounding pessimistic about our chances, but…”

 

“I know.  I remember the compatibility tests from our days in Anchorage.  It felt like they tried you with everyone.”

 

“They just about did.  Speaking of drift candidates, where’s that brother of yours?  Thought I’d’ve seen him around here before now.”

 

Herc doesn’t even try to hide the dark and unholy look on his face.  Aurora now regrets asking, a little.

 

“Got himself kicked out of the PPDC.  Conduct unbecoming.”

 

“Shit.” Aurora breathed.  She definitely regretted asking now.  Everyone knows what ‘conduct unbecoming’ is a euphemistic umbrella for.  “Sorry for asking.  I have a knack for asking awkward questions.”

 

“It’s okay.” Herc tonelessly replied, chugging a third of his beer in one go.  “Now we’re in the same boat – capable but pilot-less.  This fucking sucks.”

 

Aurora clinked her beer bottle against Herc’s in agreement.  “You think they’ll ask you to pilot with Chuck if me and him don’t work out?”

 

“God, I hope not.  Kid’s screwed up enough without having to deal with my baggage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out as a total lark that went into more emotional, deeper waters then I had originally intended on. Ah, but when your characters wrest the reigns from you, there's not much one can do, is there?


	3. Drift Test Recovery and a Bit of Kaiju Effluvia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Aurora's trip to Sydney continues to be rocky, she gets introduced to the K-Science Duo in a rather... memorable fashion. And she's rather uncomplimentary about Lars Gottlieb. But then again, who hasn't been?

The drift test with Chuck failed.  Miserably.  Aurora and Chuck could barely maintain a neural handshake for more than an hour before it collapsed.

 

A tech for Lucky Seven has to help Aurora back to her quarters, the effort both she and Chuck had made to keep the drift going had left them both drained and barely functioning.  Herc, completely ignoring Chuck’s protests of “Dad, I’m 16, I can walk on my own for fuck’s sake,” carried him back to their quarters.

 

“Dr. Geiszler, d’you mind opening that door?” The tech asked, motioning with her head.

 

“Uh, sure.” Dr. Geiszler agreed, a finger pushing his glasses higher on his nose – an unconsciously done gesture.  “Is she okay?”

 

“’She’ is named Aurora Talmadge and yes, I will be okay once I shower and nap.”

 

“S-sorry.” Dr. Geiszler apologized as he shoved the door open.

 

Aurora grimaced.  Pausing on the top step, she braced her arms to steady her legs (which are still shaking more than fifteen minutes after the drift test had been stopped).  “I should apologize.  I just had a drift test go bad and it’s incredibly juvenile of me to take my frustration out on you.”

 

“Um…thank…you?” Dr. Geiszler responded, making it sound like a question, before practically speed scuttling out of sight.

 

“Was it something I said?” Aurora asked the tech, who’d been watching the exchange with an amused look.

 

“Nah, that’s just Geiszler for you.  If you see him again while you’re here he’ll insist you call him Newt.”

 

“Newt?  As in the reptile?”

 

“As in ‘Newton.’  It’s his first name.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Would you like me to bring you something from the mess while you shower, ma’am?”

 

“As long as you don’t call me ‘ma’am.’”

 

“Will do.” The tech smiled before taking off.

 

Leaving the door open, Aurora slowly (and using just about every piece of furniture to steady herself) eased her way into the bathroom.  Biting her lip to stifle a moan of pleasure when the blissfully hot water hits her, Aurora just stood there savoring the heat for about 2 minutes before moving.

 

The rest of her week does not go much better.

 

Aurora’s lying there in her bunk later on that evening, trying to sleep.  She’s tired and she would really love to sleep right now, but all day there’s been a feeling of agitation and a sense of confliction – best word for it – going on in the back of her head.

 

 _Ghost drifting, yay._   Aurora sarcastically thought.  She knows Chuck’s to blame for all this.  She’s not mad but she wishes he’d fall asleep so she could too.

 

And then, through this weird, nebulous tether Chuck’s mind has to hers, Aurora knows Chuck is heading for her quarters.  Aurora dragged herself out of bed with a sigh and opened the door.  She sat down in the desk chair and played with her dog tags while she waited.

 

Eventually, Aurora heard the quick tap-tap-tap pattern of Chuck heading up the hall and speed walking to her door.

 

“May I come in?” He’s being unusually polite and that sent up a small red flag.

 

“It’s why I left the door open, Chuck.” Aurora called as she rose from her seat.

 

“I – I need to talk to you.”

 

“Have a seat.” Aurora gestured to the chair she’d recently vacated while she goes for the mini-fridge.  Grabbing two of the beers she’d found there the first night, Aurora handed one to Chuck before shutting the door.  She can tell this is not going to be a pleasant conversation.

 

“I won’t tell your dad if you won’t.”

 

“Agreed.  Thanks.” Chuck said, before opening his beer.

 

“So… what did you want to talk about?”

 

“He’s gone.”

 

“Who’s gone?”

 

“Becket.”

 

“Becket’s dead?” Shit, no wonder Chuck was so agitated and fidgety.

 

“No, no.  He’s just… gone.  Disappeared from the Icebox sometime last night.  I guess he left a note behind to the effect of ‘I quit.’”

 

“Holy crap.” Is pretty much all Aurora can manage.  She took a gulp of the beer.  It wasn’t bad.  “How’d you find out?”

 

“My old man told me.” Chuck replied, taking a sip of his beer.  “I guess the Powers That Be took a look at my scans and his before Knifehead and figured we’d be compatible, cuz we’re closer in age then me and my old man.  But he’s gone now so I’ll probably end up piloting with my old man.” Chuck scowled before taking a bigger gulp of beer.

 

“That is a bummer.  But I’ve also been feeling you struggle with something alllllll night.”

 

“Sorry.” Chuck sheepishly apologized.

 

“So, do you want to tell me what else is bothering you besides your hero doing a bunk?”

 

“Have you ever seen a picture of Rah-leigh?”

 

“No.  I’ve never been into the glossies.  Plus I live and work with 6 jaeger pilots.  I’ve got enough batcrap craziness to deal with in Vladivostok.”

 

“Okay…um…here.” Chuck reached into his pocket and pulls out a page torn from a magazine.

 

Aurora took the page, unfolded it, and frowned.  He looked familiar.  This face, grinning up at her from the page.  It almost felt like Aurora had seen him somewhere before.

 

“He seems familiar…there is something familiar about him, but I’ve never met him.”

 

“Yes, you have.” Chuck insisted.  “Look, I know pilots don’t dig into each other’s memories as a point of honor.  Right to privacy and all that shit.  But I kinda did in yours.”

 

“Really now.”  _You little shit of a koala_.  Aurora thought, a little annoyed.

 

“Yes, and you have every right to be mad, so go ahead and be mad at me if you like, call me a drongo or worse – but I had to confirm things with myself before I came to talk to you.”

 

“I don’t know what ‘drongo’ means.”

 

“It’s slang for stupid or idiot.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Anyway,” Chuck forged ahead, “I… I went through some of your memories and… it turns out that before his name was changed when he enrolled in the academy, Raleigh had another name.  Jackson Teller.”

 

Aurora would later say that she believed her eyes nearly came out of her head in shock – she knows for sure she choked on her beer in surprise.  Chuck jumped up to start pounding her back even as Aurora shook the magazine page open to look at the picture again.

 

“Oh… my GOD.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What the _fuck_?!”

 

“That’s what I said when I realized.  Whattya wanna do?”

 

“We tell _no one_.  ‘Specially not Aleksis and Sasha.  They might just go rogue to hunt him down and kill him.”

 

“It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard.  I’d help ‘em.”

 

“Chuck—“

 

“I’ve seen your memories, Aurora.  And no matter what _either_ of you says, it wasn’t your fault.”

 

Chuck, like Sasha, looked incredibly alarmed when Aurora started to cry.  Casting about uselessly for a moment before awkwardly thrusting a towel at Aurora.

 

“Th-anks.” Aurora hiccupped, wiping her eyes on said towel.

 

“Sorry I can’t do more.  My mom would know what to do.  And what to say.”

 

“You’re doing fine, Chuck.” Aurora assured him.

 

Chuck ducks his head, trying to hide his blush.  After Chuck left, after being assured there were no more waterworks or worrying displays of emotion forthcoming, Aurora felt the need to lie down after this massive revelation.  She woke up near to noon, her head pounding from crying in her sleep.

 

“As if this situation couldn’t have gotten any weirder.” Aurora muttered to herself.

 

A few minutes later sees Aurora dressed in the usual casual (for the PPDC) of dark blue exercise trousers and a gray top.

 

Aurora left her quarters to wander the halls of the ‘dome.  The wandering is aimless, Aurora being more focused on her thoughts than anything else.

 

So, she doesn’t notice Max right away.  And this seems to make the puppy all the more playful – he takes a running (fast waddle) leap and hits Aurora in the shins.

 

“Oh!  Hi, Max.  Whattya doing here all by yourself?” Aurora bent down, rubbing the puppy’s head.

 

Max, thrilled to have gotten Aurora’s attention, jumped up and puts his paws on Aurora’s knees, his stubby little tail whipping back and forth.

 

“Did you run away from your daddy?  Huh?” Aurora cooed to the dog, squatting down so she can reach down and pet Max a little easier.

 

Max whoofed and slobbered on Aurora’s knee.

 

“You’re adorable.” Aurora smiled.  She picked up Max, cuddling the adorable dog to her chest.

 

“C’mon Max, let’s go find Chuck.”

 

Max ‘whoofed’ excitedly at the sound of Chuck’s name.  Aurora walked off holding the puppy and asked random people if they’ve seen either Hansen.  Finally, finally she found someone after wandering the halls of the Shatterdome for the better part of 20 minutes.

 

“I think they’re doing neural drift tests.”

 

“Ah, thank you.”

 

Aurora climbed into LOCCENT and looked around.  It looked the same as home, sans the perpetual cloud of cigarette smoke from the left corner – that was apparently unique thus far to Vladivostok.

 

“Ranger Talmadge, what can I – Max!  you found him!” The LOCCENT tech rushed forward, extremely relieved.

 

“Yeah, we ran into each other.  I figured he managed to get away from Chuck, so thought I’d come find him.”

 

“Ranger Hansen left him here when he went off to test with senior Hansen.  The little nipper runs fast for a dog with such short legs.  I was worried I’d have to tell Chuck Max ran from me.”

 

“Glad I could help.” Aurora said as she puts Max down on a small nest of blankets.

 

Max snuggled down deep into the blankets and makes a huffing sound as he drifts off to sleep.

 

“I’ll leave you to your work.”

 

Aurora left LOCCENT quickly and quietly.  She hoped the tests go well for both their sakes.  Though she does find it a bit nuts that Chuck is testing again so soon.

 

To keep her mind off their own failed test Aurora goes in search of the K-Science department.

 

She found the department purely by following the loud voices.  One she recognized as Geiszler’s.  The other was just as loud, but the voice sounded British with German inflections.

 

“…for the very last time, Dr. Geiszler!  We have a clearly marked line to demarcate which half of the lab is yours, and which half is _mine_.  And yet somehow,” Aurora smirked at how scathing ‘somehow’ sounded, “I am still finding bits and bobs of kaiju viscera and effluvia _on my side of the lab_!!!”

 

“Dude, seriously, you need to take a chill pill and relax and – oh shit!”

 

Aurora had decided now was a good time to poke her head into the lab.  Just in case she needed to separate the two or something.  Geiszler had been swearing as she had been opening the door, so she hadn’t caught everything he’d been saying.

 

And this gooey, squishy chunk of kaiju viscera meant for Geiszler instead hits Aurora dead center on her face.  And she’s so stunned for the space of a pregnant pause that Aurora can only stand there in the doorway of the lab.  With bits of kaiju dripping off her face.

 

“Oh… Oh, dear.  Newton – get the lady a towel.  Or better yet, some disinfecting wipes and a towel.”

 

Geiszler scrambled to obey while the other man quickly limped toward Aurora.

 

“I am so dreadfully sorry about that.  I would say I don’t know what came over me, but I would be lying – it was Dr. Geiszler’s fault.”

 

“It was not my fault, Hermann!” Geiszler’s denial is high-pitched, affronted and instant as he came running up with a container of wipes.

 

“I have told you not to call me that in front of other people, _Doctor_ Geiszler.” The now named Hermann hissed while Aurora wiped her face.

 

“Let’s just consider us all lucky that I’m not prone to changing forms.  I’m guessing this is not the first time a… disagreement of this nature has occurred.”

 

“Oh, definitely not.  I didn’t catch your name earlier.  I’m Newton Geiszler, but call me Newt.  Only my mother calls me doctor.  This is Hermann; this is a human, Hermann.  Say hello.”

 

The look on Hermann’s face tells Aurora that Newt’s done this bit before.  But Hermann wiped the look off his face and stiffly held out his hand.

 

“Doctor Hermann Gottlieb.  I’m the mathematician.”

 

“Any relation to the colossal asshole that’s trying to neuter the Jaeger Program?”

 

“My father.” Hermann said from between gritted teeth.

 

“Damn.  For what it’s worth – you have my sympathies.  Also, if you ever want someone to kick his ass or just kick him the balls, it would be my honor.  I’m Aurora Talmadge by the way.  It’s nice to meet you both.”

 

“Um… thank you, I suppose.” Hermann replied, stilted in tone and looking like he’s not quite sure how to take that one.


	4. K-Science and Kaiju Blue Talk and Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accusations of having emotions over some German pastry fly and the K-Scientists plus Aurora plus a certain awkward teenager and his dog (cuz the author apparently likes weird group make ups) make a foray into Sydney for real pizza. With real cheese.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to the language school of Google translate so I'm sure it's hella awkward if not down right wrong, so please don't hate me. Hell, if you guys see anything wrong with the translation let me know so I can fix it!

“What brings a ranger down here anyways?  The rangers stationed here avoid this place like the plague.” Newt bluntly asked, doing that move with his glasses again.

 

“Newton, you don’t ask something like that so bloody bluntly.” Hermann hissed, making a move to whack Newt with his cane; a move that Newt nimbly dodged.

 

“It’s alright.  I’m down here out of boredom and curiosity.  And I’m not really a ranger.”

  
“But… when we met you said a drift test had gone bad.”

 

“One had.  But to be a ranger one kind of needs a jaeger and a co-pilot.  I’ve got neither.  I’ve had neither since graduation.”

 

“Is that why you’re here?” Newt asked, flat out ignoring Hermann’s chastising glare.

 

“Yep.  Marshal Garnier sent the request last week.  There was hope I might be drift compatible with Chuck Hansen.  That didn’t go so well.  They’re testing Chuck with his dad right now.”

 

“Ah.  Could I offer you a cup of tea?”  


“Yes, thank you, Hermann.”

  
“Call me Gottlieb.  I hate my given name.” Hermann automatically responded as he limped over to a kettle by a sink on his side of the lab.

 

“I can do that.  So, what’re you working on over here?” Aurora asked, wandering over to the massive chalkboards.

 

“I am working on an algorithm to predict when the next kaiju will come through the breach.  I’m _so_ close.”

 

“That will be fantastic when you do crack it.  Knowing that the next attack is a week, a month or more away… Can I just say how that might actually help the pilots be more relaxed but more dialed in and better performing at the same time?”

 

“Yes, indeed.” Gottlieb agreed, cane hanging off his elbow as he gingerly walked over and handed a cup to Aurora.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Which Shatterdome are you stationed in, if I may ask?”

 

“Vladivostok.  Being in sunny Sydney is… different.  Is it weird that in the midst of this war, I am feeling bloody nostalgic over seeing chalkboards?”

 

“No.” Hermann said, taking a sip of tea.  “You should see some of the things Newton’s been known to get nostalgic over.”

 

“Like what?” Aurora turned, sipping her tea and looking at Newt, who was conspicuously ignoring them both.  The tea was rather delicious.

 

“His father sent him some rumkugeln – it’s a truffle-like pastry flavored with chocolate and rum – for his birthday last year and he got all teary-eyed whilst eating one.”

 

“You cried too, asshole!”

 

“I did no such thing!”

 

“Don’t lie to me because you don’t wanna look like a sissy in front of Rory!”

 

Aurora rolled her eyes as they bicker, quickly forgetting that Aurora was even there.  She sipped her tea for a moment, enjoying and savoring the taste of the beverage (which was _soooooooo_ good), and then decided that she’s over this bickering match.

 

“OK, Mann-kinder!  Ihr zwei kann darüber streiten, wer weinte und wer nicht bis kaiju kommen hat oder Sie vereinbaren können zu widersprechen.  Welches wird es sein?” Aurora called loudly over Gottlieb and Newt’s now much louder bickering.

 

The effect is instantaneous.  Both men stop mid-word and turned towards Aurora looking rather stunned.  The effect is instantaneous and also quite comical.

 

“You… speak German.” Newt said in this stunned little voice.

 

“Such a keen grasp of the obvious.  I’m half-English, half-German.” Aurora said, her smile taking the bite out of her crack.  “I can speak German thanks to summers – and years – spent with my grandparents.  I also speak fluent Russian.  And some Shanghainese.  Though I don’t blame you for crying over rumkugeln – my grandma made the most _heavenly_ rumkugeln once.”

 

Aurora ended up spending much of the morning in K-Science.  Once you got past Newt’s ADD level of energy and rapid fire speech and Hermann’s prickly and studious exterior, they really weren’t bad guys.

 

Both the men’s work was fascinating in its respective way; and to see the level of passion both Newt and Gottlieb had for their work was a little awe-inspiring.  She listened (though Aurora doesn’t much understand it) as Hermann explained his math to her and why he loved math so much.

 

Then Aurora is dragged away to give Newt his share of the attention, listening to the exuberant enthusiasm in his voice as he goes into intricate detail and off on many a tangent about the kaiju and their biology.  He’s describing how his ‘Milking Machine’ works and going off on a tangent about kaiju blue – his fourth tangent in 15 minutes – when Aurora gets the vague idea that she surprised the biologist as he’s listing the myriad devastations kaiju blue could, does, and did cause.

 

“What percentage of their blood is… acidic?”

 

“Like, all of it.  I’ve never met anyone who’s interacted with kaiju blue and lived.”

 

“Mm,” Aurora wordlessly hummed, looking at a floating specimen of some piece of kaiju in a tank.  “It is deadly.  And it burns like a giant, raging bitch.”

 

“Have you…”

  
“Yep.” Aurora matter of factly said, lifting her shirt to flash him a bit of scarred torso.

 

Newt’s mouth popped open a little in surprise.  But then he snapped his mouth shut and goes uncharacteristically serious.

 

“Is it true that the scars are tinged blue for the first few months?”

 

“Yeah.  I was mottled blue up until about six months or so before I joined the Academy.  And they still hurt if it gets too cold in winter.”

 

“Fuck, Vladivostok must be a hard posting.”

 

Aurora shrugged.  “I deal with it.  I’m not thrilled about it, but I manage.  Like by having space heaters in my room.”

 

“How’d you get those?!  They’re contraband!!”

 

“Sasha knows people.  Also, he is an excellent wall to hide things behind.”

 

Hermann, who had been unobtrusively eavesdropping, opened his mouth to possibly ask a question or to chastise Aurora for having contraband when there’s excited yapping getting louder every moment.

 

“And you’ve just been saved by a dog.” Newton quipped, crossing the room to open the door to the lab.

 

Max came tearing into the lab, his blunt nails scratching a rapid tattoo on the floor as he made a run directly at Aurora.

 

“Hey, buddy,” Aurora cooed, picking Max up before he can get himself into proper mischief.  Or anything toxic.  “Did you run away from your babysitter again?”

 

“Nah, he caught your scent and then high-tailed it down here.” Chuck said as he came into the lab.

  
“Aw, he likes me.” Max lets out an excited little yelp seemingly in confirmation and he snuggled deep into Aurora’s arms.

 

“He loves everyone.  Even Gottlieb.”

 

“Chuck, that was rude.” Aurora jumped in before anyone (but mostly Newt) can say anything.

 

“Sorry.” Chuck apologized after Aurora pointedly stared at him.

 

“It’s alright.” Gottlieb dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand as Newt stared agog at Aurora.  Again.  “I got the general gist behind the statement.”

 

“So, how did testing go with your old man?”

 

“It went well.  Looks like they won’t have to ground the old codger after all.”

 

“Good for both of you.” Aurora told Chuck, telling that little part of her that is jealous that it’s fucking stupid to be jealous of a 16 year old kid and to fuck off.  “C’mon, I’ll buy you lunch.”

 

“You are aware that we get food here… for free.”

 

“Alright, you wanna turn down a lunch wh—“

 

“I never said that!” Chuck hastily interrupted.  “I know a place that’s still making pizza with real cheese.”

 

“I’m sold.  D’you guys wanna come?  It’s pizza.  With real cheese.” Aurora wheedled, dropping into a sing-song voice.

 

“I’m down for a break.” Newt agreed, ripping his gloves off and throwing them in the trash.  “C’mon, Herms.”

 

“I’ve asked you not to call me that, time and again.” Hermann snapped.  “And I’m afraid I must decline.  I am terribly busy working on this algorithm.”

 

“Gottlieb, taking a step back from your work for an hour or two is only going to help.  You’ll come back ready to work, maybe with a fresh perspective too, who knows?” Aurora coaxed.

 

“Alright, alright.  I suppose you may have a point.” Hermann acquiesced.

 

“Pizza time!” Aurora cried, punching the air.

 

The strange group trudged out of the lab.  They sign themselves and a car out of the motor pool and set off into the city of Sydney.

 

“This might be the weirdest outing I’ve ever been on.” Chuck muttered as Aurora pulled the jeep out into traffic.

 

“Dude, it’s pizza.  The Great Equalizer.” Newt said to Chuck as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

 

And it was surprisingly fun.  They got Max into the pizza joint by convincing the woman at the door (and Hermann) that Max was being trained to be a service dog by Hermann.

 

Chuck marveled (under his breath) about how anyone bought that scenario after they had been seated.  Especially when Max had quickly gotten up from where he had been made to sit next to Hermann and curled his little body up in Chuck's lap and had promptly gone to sleep.

 

“People believe what they wish to believe.”

  
“Amen to that, Herms.”

 

“Call me ‘Herms’ one more time and you shall find it difficult to eat owing to the napkin dispenser I’ve shoved down your throat.”

 

Chuck sniggered mightily while looking appropriately impressed and Newt tried (he failed) to look all wide-eyed innocence.

 

“Now, now, children.  Play nice.” Aurora teasingly admonished whilst moving the napkin dispenser out of Gottlieb’s reach.  “Or no ice cream after the meal.”

 

“There’s ice cream?!”

 

“Newt, remind us how old you are again.” Chuck deadpanned.

 

“I’m 30, if you must know.” Newt sniffed as he looks down at the menu.  “But one is never too old for ice cream.”

 

“Yeahhhhh, keep telling yourself that.” Chuck said, sniggering again.

 

The pizza is ordered (with extra cheese – because its cheese and it is _real_ ) and enjoyed by all four of them with much gusto.

 

“This was a good idea.” Aurora announced, ripping a piece of crust up to feed to Max.

 

“No kidding.  I can’t remember the last time I ate real cheese.  And don’t try to tell me that the shit in the lasagna they served for dinner last night was real.”

 

“No one would ever try to say otherwise.” Gottlieb primly replied.  “We just ask that you do us the courtesy of finishing chewing your food before you speak your mind.”

 

“Sorry.” Newt apologized, having the grace to look a little sheepish.

 

Aurora takes leave of Chuck, Herc, Max and the two scientists who bicker like a couple who’ve been married decades a few days after the impromptu pizza party.

 

Aurora had mentioned to Chuck that she wasn’t looking forward to going back to Vladivostok just because of how cold it was going to be.  And, no, she was not happy about the cold.  Pretty much the moment the chopper door opens on the helipad, Aurora wishes she could make the trip back to Sydney.

 

The Marshal’s secretary – who knew why Aurora had been gone a week – makes a remark before Aurora’s been back for 30 minutes about how, surprise, Talmadge still does not have a co-pilot.

 

Aurora stubbornly insisted (right up to Vladivostok’s closing) that she had a full arm muscle spasm and it was an accident that she punched the Marshal’s secretary and broke her nose and sent her flying onto the floor.

 

“What is wrong, malyutka?” Aleksis asked Aurora later on after letting herself into Aurora’s room.  “Why is your face in a pillow?”

 

“Maybe because I am a colossal failure as a ranger and a person and I’m trying to see if I can suffocate myself.” Came Aurora’s peevish (and muffled) response.

 

“You are being silly.” Aleksis gently chided, pulling Aurora’s pillow out from under her face.  “You have co-pilot.  Somewhere out there is perfect co-pilot for you.  Lazy bastard is just taking their time getting to you.”

 

“There _is_ something wrong with me.  Five years out of the academy and I’ve got nothing.  Maybe I should just give up on being a ranger and just be an officer in LOCCENT.  I already do it anyway.  Why not make it official?”

 

“I want you to speak with the head doctor first before you make decision.”

 

Aurora does to please Aleksis and the results of what turn into several sessions with the ‘dome’s resident shrink are inconclusive and cloudy at the very best.

 

This doesn’t surprise Aurora in the slightest.

 

She gets an interview with the Marshal’s Vasilii and Pentecost.  Aurora explained and systematically laid out her reasons and requests that permission be granted for her to shift her role and officially become an officer in LOCCENT.

 

“New dog tags will be created for you; that won’t be a problem.” Marshal Vasilii said toward the end of the interview.

 

“But why?” Pentecost wanted to know.

 

“Marshal Pentecost, sir, with all due respect, I believe I already went over that part.”

 

“You went over the official reasons and precedents for this situation, yes.  But I feel there is something more to this issue.”

 

“With all due respect, sir, I would very much not like to go there.  It is a deeply painful, deeply personal… thing.”

 

“Very well.  Permission granted.  The paper work will be filed in short order.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The German Aurora spoke to Newt and Hermann, translated: Ok, man-children! You two can argue over who cried and who didn't until kaiju come or you can agree to disagree. Which one will it be?


	5. There's Jaeger Speculation, the Shatterdome Rumor Mill Running at Full Tilt, Little Ones and Reminiscing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rumors of a Mark 3 Jaeger being restored hit the Hong Kong Shatterdome and kick up a storm of bets fed by the Shatterdome's well-known rumor mill. Aurora's just along for the ride.

And with relatively little fuss and muss Aurora goes from Ranger Talmadge to Officer Talmadge, complete with new dog tags.  Of course when they are informed, Sasha and Aleksis use this as an excuse to throw a big ol’ party in the mess.

 

Aurora tried to object, she really does.

 

“It is thing to celebrate; we will take any reason to celebrate.” Both Aleksis and Sasha say every time Aurora tried to object.

 

“So I’ve noticed.” Aurora dryly replied one time, with the sarcasm flying right over the Russian’s heads.

 

Aurora gave up her old dog tags to Marshal Vasilii as soon as the new one’s arrived.  And it feels kinda good to not have the pressure of not having a jaeger or co-pilot.

 

And as they start losing jaegers at a steadily increasing rate, Aurora finds herself thinking once or twice that maybe it turned out to be a good thing she never found her co-pilot.

 

She settled further into her role in LOCCENT and by the time Vladivostok closes she is the one in charge.

 

When she files into the LOCCENT in Hong Kong, reporting for her first day of duty, the OIC – one Tendo Choi – gives her a once over.

 

“I know you were head of LOCCENT in Vladivostok – you gonna be able to deal with taking orders again?”

 

Aurora can respect the polite, but still direct way that Choi had asked the question.  It was also a valid question, she reflected later.

 

“Yeah.  I’ve heard nothing but good things about you, so I reckon working under you won’t suck.”

 

“Good to know.” Choi replied with a small smile.  “Rule number one of working under me: I don’t give two flying donkey shits about titles in here.  Unless there’s a visiting dignitary – and I don’t see that happening any time soon – I don’t refer to anyone by their title.  I also don’t expect anyone to refer to me by my title.  So feel free to call me Tendo or Choi or any approximation of that or any other nickname.”

 

“What about Elvis?” Aurora asked, eyeing Tendo’s immaculate pompadour.

 

Tendo laughed that time.  “You been talking to Chuck Hansen?”

 

“Yeah.  He told me in his last letter that you looked like Elvis.  Chuck also said he was damn near positive that your hair had so much product in it that your pompadour could withstand a gale force wind.”

 

“That sounds like Baby Hansen.  Wait ‘in his last letter?’”

 

“Yeah.  He’s not big on e-mail so we write letters.”

 

“I didn’t think Chuck had any friends.  Kid’s about as friendly as a pissed off crocodile with a belly ache.”

 

“I’ve known him since he was sixteen.  He’s not hard to figure out.  And it’s not hard to see through his various shields.  Chuck’s really not a bad kid.”

 

“No, he probably isn’t.  But he’s got a lot of baggage.”

 

“Who doesn’t have baggage by now?”

 

“Touché.”

 

“So… Even stuck in frozen hell, I’ve heard a rumor or two.  Care to share a little bit?”

 

“If I can.”

 

Tendo and Aurora spend the day talking, monitoring the Breach and fixing a few busted things.  Aurora also found out that betting is as rampant in this Shatterdome as it had been in Vladivostok.  That’d been an amusing discovery.

 

That evening in the mess Aurora heard even more gossip.  By far the juiciest tidbit is that one of the Mark-III’s is being restored – and some say it’s the Marshal’s own daughter helming the project.  The scuttlebutt also goes that Pentecost is putting out feeler’s and trying to find the Mark-III’s pilots.

 

“No one knows who or which jaeger.” One of Cherno Alpha’s tech’s says between mouthfuls.

 

“What were Mark-III jaegers again?” Dimitri, one of Cherno Alpha’s original mechanics asked.

 

“Matador Fury – Mexican.  Shaolin Rogue – Chinese.  Vulcan Specter – Australian.  Chrome Brutus – Canadian.  Gipsy Danger – American.” Aurora counted off on her hand.  “Brutus’ pilots are deceased.  Vulcan is so fucked up that I don’t think it’s possible to fix her; she’s just scrap metal at this point.  Matador might be a possibility but I think her pilots have gone very, _very_ off the grid.  That leaves Shaolin Rogue and Gipsy Danger.”

 

“You know a lot about this.  How is that possible?”

 

“Ilya, I’ve been working in LOCCENT – we all shared information.  Not to mention I was in the Academy with some of these people.  My money is—“ Aurora leant over to pluck a cigarette out of Ilya’s mouth moments before he lights up.  “On Shaolin Rogue.  She’s still got most of a body and both her pilots are still living to my knowledge.”

 

“Gimme my cigarette back.”

 

“You know Pentecost will disembowel you, or anyone, who is caught smoking in the mess.” Aurora scolded, handing the cigarette back anyway.  “This isn’t Vladivostok.”

 

“Da, mat’” Ilya sneered, tucking the cigarette back into its case.

 

“Be a good boy and eat your vegetables, Iliekins.” Aurora rejoindered in such a saccharine voice the entire table ended up in stitches.

 

“Why does Ilya look like a crab is up his backside?” Aleksis asked, she and Sasha taking seats as said mechanic busses his tray and left the mess hall.

 

“Aurora would not let him light up his cigarette in the mess.  You know how he gets about his nicotine.” One of the tech’s offered up.

 

“Maybe we should get him nicotine patches.” Sasha said, the look on his face thoughtful.

 

“Miss Talmadge.”

 

Aurora knew, before she even looked up, that it was Gottlieb who was calling her name.  No one in the Shatterdome called her ‘Miss’ except for Gottlieb upon occasion.  She turned to see Hermann gesturing at her from the doorway.  The K-Scientist is standing as stiff as usual and kept shooting side-eye glances at Newt, who was sitting not too far away.

 

Aurora grabbed the apple off her tray and munched on it as she headed for Gottlieb.

 

“Hey, Gottlieb.  What’s up?”

 

“Hello, Aurora.  I am sorry I dragged you away from dinner, but Newton is in there and I needed to speak with you without risking him overhearing.  His hearing is surprisingly good for someone who spent years in a band.”

 

“It’s no problem.  What do you need?”

 

“Newton’s birthday is in a few weeks and I got him a present that he almost found.  Is there any chance I could hide it in your quarters?”

 

“Yeah, sure.  Let’s go hide it now.”

 

Newton’s birthday present is retrieved and duly stashed in Aurora’s room.  Aurora thought it kind of sweet and indicative of how Hermann felt about Newt (despite the effusion of protests to the contrary) that he was going to all these lengths to make sure that his present is a surprise.

 

Rumours floated into LOCCENT and the rest of the Shatterdome about various and sundry topics – as they always have.  Some bear a small kernel of truth while others are either grossly untrue or grossly exaggerated.

 

“I’m trying to figure out how the hell we’re still open.” Aurora remarked to Tendo one night.  She had pulled night monitoring duty.  “I’m aware that, thanks in part to the kaiju getting faster and smarter and bigger and Lars “I deserve to be cunt-punted” Gottlieb, that the UN’s cut us off.  I mean… to place their faith in a wall… Did Chuck and Herc taking out Mutavore show them anything?”

 

“I love the nickname you’ve given Gottlieb.  It’s appropriate.” Tendo smirks, handing Aurora a fresh cup of coffee.

 

“Mmm,” Aurora says, breathing in the steam wafting up.  “Thank you for the coffee.  Hey, can I ask you something?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Per the ‘dome’s rumor mill, I heard from one of the mech’s that Pentecost is using some… extralegal means to keep us open.”

 

“He is.” Tendo confirmed without preamble.  “Right now, the funding from the UN ran out 2 months ago.  Sasha and Aleksis procure any weapons we need – I’m assuming you knew that.”

 

“I did.  But what about covering the day-to-day?”

 

“Through legitimate businessmen we receive a lot of money.  But a massive portion of the money comes from Hannibal Chau.”

 

“The black market kaiju parts guy?  Seriously?”

 

“Yep.  Pentecost gave him exclusive rights to any kaiju parts left after Newt’s taken samples.”

 

“And in return he helps bankroll what’s left of the PPDC.”

 

“Precisely.  It’s a bit… bleak.”

 

“That’s one way of putting it.”

 

“So…”

 

“What?”

 

“D’you feel like the world’s still worth saving now that you know how desperate a situation we’ve been put in?”

 

“To keep people from having stories about their own personal K-Day?  Yeah, I think it’s still worth it.  We’re all that the world’s got left for protection.  Just like Pentecost is doing what he has to – legal or not – to keep this whole thing up and running, I will do whatever I have to so that no one else can say they have their own personal K-Day stories, the day this war became _real_ for them.  And if that includes staying up all night monitoring the systems that monitor the Breach and its surrounding environs, I will happily do it.”

 

“That was…” Tendo scratched his head.  “Very speech-ish.”

 

“Yeah, sorry about getting a little carried away there.  But speaking of being up at night, I know I pulled solo duty – what’re you doing up when you could be sleeping?”

 

“Alison’s supposed to call me with an update on Little Yeye – he’s got an ear infection _and_ a cold.”

 

“Bummer.  I hope the little guy gets better fast, man.”

 

“Thanks.” Tendo said absently, glancing down at his phone.  “Y’know it’s funny… I remember telling Yancy and Raleigh how my first “date” with Alison went like it was yesterday.  And the way you said ‘bummer’ just now it reminded me of those two.  Chill, human Labrador’s the Becket boys.”

 

Aurora busied herself with drinking her coffee and leaning forward to check read-outs from the last few minutes so she doesn’t have to respond.

 

“Did you ever meet the two of them?”

 

“Nope.  I do believe they entered the Academy in 2016 – I’d been in Vladivostok almost a year by that point.  I think Sasha and Aleksis worked with them a time or two though.”

 

“Ah.  Well, if a few of Pentecost’s leads pan out you could be meeting Raleigh in a few weeks.”

 

Aurora stared at Tendo.  No, it wasn’t possible…  “Come again?”

 

“I assume you’ve heard the rumors that Pentecost was looking for a pilot?”

 

“I thought it was the plural form of the word, not the singular!  How is Becket supposed to pilot a jaeger when he has no co-pilot?”

 

“Miss Mori is compiling a list of candidates since the restoration is done.”

 

“The Mark-III being restored was Gipsy Danger.  Thank God I never put money on that.  So many people on Cherno’s crew are gonna be so _pissed_.”

 

“That’s been a healthy pool ever since the rumor about a Mark-III came out.”

 

“So you’re the sneaky s.o.b. who let that nugget out.”

 

“Guilty as charged.” Tendo grinned.  “More people picked Gipsy than I thought would.”

 

“Talking about Stacker hunting for Raleigh?” Herc asked, popping up out of nowhere.

 

“Jesus!” Aurora exclaims, jumping back in surprise.

 

“Heh, sorry.” Herc grinned as Tendo laughed his ass off at Aurora.

 

“No, you’re not.” Aurora accused.

 

“You’re right.  I’m not.”

 

“Asshole.”

 

“I wouldn’t be me otherwise.  Choi,” Herc said, turning to the man.  “D’you think Becket’ll be found?”

 

“You’re Deputy Marshal, you tell me.”

 

“Yeah, but you guys were really close 5 years ago.”

 

“It depends on multiple things.  If Pentecost can convince him, if he’s capable of getting back into a jaeger, if he’s desperate enough—“ Tendo trailed off, looking glum.  Then his phone starts to ring.  “Excuse me, it’s Alison.”

 

“Little Yeye’s sick.” Aurora explained when Herc looks to her.

 

“Poor little sprog.  I remember when Chuck was that little and got ill.  Angie barely put Chuck down, barely slept.  Chuck was a nightmare sick.  Still is, actually.”

 

“I can imagine.” Aurora murmured.  “I remember once—“

 

“Yeah?” Herc prompted after the moment stretched on in silence for a little too long.

 

“Never mind.  I lost my train of thought.”

 

“I get it.” Herc said, having the decency not to call Aurora out.

 

“I think… I think it would be easier to get Pentecost to play rock, paper, scissors then for most of us to talk about things in our past.”

 

Herc nodded, both of them slightly turning toward Tendo as he came back over.

 

“How’s the little tucker?” Herc inquired when Tendo got closer.

 

“He’s responding to the antibiotics; doctor’s told Al he’ll be back to his old self in a few more days.”

 

“That’s good!” Aurora smiled up at Tendo from her chair.

 

“Yeah, it is.” Tendo smiled, pocketing his phone.  “What were you two talking about to do with Pentecost?”

 

“Aurora was saying how she thinks it’d be easier to get Pentecost to play rock, paper, scissors than for most of us to talk about our pasts.”

 

“It’s true enough.” Tendo replied.  “But… would you two care to put a little money on that?  In the name of bringing a… a little lightness to an otherwise shitty situation?”

 

“What’re the terms?” Herc asked, smiling now.

 

“It stays between the three of us.  There’s no time limit, so no pressure.  Five hundred from each of us that at some point Aurora can get Stacker to play rock, paper, scissors with her—“

 

“Why do I have to be the one to do it?” Aurora interrupted.

 

“You’re the one who came up with the idea.”

 

“Dammit.”

 

“I’m in.”

 

“What the hell.  At least I’m not under the gun, so to speak.  I’m in.”

 

“And me makes three.  I’ll collect your signatures later to make it official.  And to make sure any losers can’t wiggle their way out of paying.”

 

“Tendo!  We’ve worked together for less than a year!  I am _shocked_ – shocked, I tell you – that you would intimate such a thing!” Aurora, going for broke, threw a hand over her heart at the end after delivering the bit in an over the top Southern accent.

 

The response is an immediate gale of laughter and Tendo bent practically double, holding the edge of a table to stay upright.

 

“Oh, god – God, I needed that,” Tendo happily sighed, wiping at his eyes.  “Thanks, Rory.”

 

“Humor – that’s what I’m here for.” Aurora replied, saluting Tendo with her mug.

 

“I’m gonna hit the sack.  See you two in the morning.”

 

“Night, Choi.” Herc called out.

 

“G’Night, Elvis.” Aurora called, getting a good-bye wave from over the shoulder.


	6. Mulched Apples, Ability Aspersions, and Drop to Kill Ratio Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora continues putting one foot in front of the other and dealing with Chuck -- a job happily fobbed off on her by Herc -- as the Mark 3 Restoration Project winds down and Mako unwittingly dredges up some bad memories for Aurora.
> 
> I am shite at summaries. I am so sorry you guys.

“Elvis.” Herc huffed into his chest.  “You picked that one up from Chuck, didn’t ya?”

 

“Sorta.  In the last letter that made it to Vladivostok Chuck mentioned Tendo’s pompadour.  And he does remind me of Elvis – in a rockabilly way.”

 

“The fuck is rockabilly?”

 

“It’s – Actually I’m not sure how to explain rockabilly.  Ask Tendo, I’m sure he’ll be able to explain rockabilly to you.  So, what’s keeping you up tonight?”

 

“Couldn’t sleep.  M’a little worried at how Chuck’ll react when he hears that Becket is back.  Kid took it pretty hard when Becket up and disappeared.  He looked up to Yancy and Raleigh.”

 

 _Oh, if you had any idea._   Aurora darkly thought, taking a sip of coffee.

 

And it is clear Herc did not have the slightest inkling of anything from Chuck.  This meant the kid had managed to compartmentalize and hide this whole fucked up situation from his father for five years.  Aurora definitely feels more than a little impressed.  And proud.

 

“D’you want me to have a word with Chuck?”

 

“If you could.” Herc quickly spoke, looking instantly relieved.  Which instantly made Aurora think Herc had been hoping (if not angling) for Aurora to offer.  “I know it might not seem like it, but Chuck respects you and I think… he might take it a little better if he hears it from you.”

 

“You realize he’s going to see this as an aspersion on his abilities as a pilot and his pride will be taking a biiiiiiiig hit?”

 

“Which means that he’ll be pretty damn pissy.  Think I should warn the Shatterdome as a whole?”

 

“He’s a 21 year old man-child.  I am fond of him, don’t get me wrong, but he is a man-child.  And a tad emotionally constipated.  Both of you are.”

 

“Never let it be said that you dance around a subject.  Even if you have a point.” Herc admitted, reaching for Tendo’s abandoned coffee cup.

 

Said conversation with Chuck takes place 2 days later.  It was after they’d gone head to head in the kwoon; Aurora had come out of that knowing her shoulder was gonna be sporting one hell of an ugly bruise later on.

 

Aurora and Chuck pointedly ignore each other in the communal showers near the kwoon afterward, out of a mutual feeling of ‘that’s family and you never want to see your family naked.’

 

“So… what’s on your mind?”

 

Aurora looked up and tried not to drop the bread roll that had just been picked up.

 

“C’mon, we may not be drift compatible enough to pilot a jaeger, but I can still tell when y’ve got somethin’ on your mind.” Chuck informed Aurora through a mouthful of his own roll.

 

Aurora looked around the mess.  Way too many ears, way too many people around in case Chuck blew up.

 

“Not here.  C’mon.”

 

Aurora lead Chuck out of the mess and up, up, up the jaeger bay catwalks until they are level with where Striker Eureka’s head would normally be.

 

“Maintenance on the conn-pod.” Chuck answered, noticing Aurora’s look.  “Now spill.”

 

“You know I love you like family, right?”

 

“Cuz that’s _always_ a good way to start a conversation.” Chuck retorted.

 

“Yes, well, I want you to keep that in mind.  I love you, and your dad loves you.  That said, your dad is as emotionally stunted as you and it’d take him _years_ to get this out.”

 

“You’re doing a pretty good job of explaining faster than my old man.” Chuck cracked, laughing when Aurora punched his arm.

 

“Shut up, you drongo.  This is a serious conversation.  Anyway… The Mark-III restoration project is pretty much complete, per my information.  The Mark-III that was restored was Gipsy Danger.”

 

“So?” Chuck may have sounded like he didn’t much care that his favorite jaeger as a kid had been restored.  But Aurora was sitting close enough to see the way the corners of his eyes and mouth tightened as his anger level began to build.

 

“The Marshal’s been looking for Becket and apparently that search will be or could bearing fruit in a few short weeks.”

 

“That is such bullshit!” Chuck roared, the apple in his hand getting mulched when Chuck clenched his fist.  “We don’t need no fucking has-been asshole who ran away!  Does Pentecost even _know_ what he’s _doing_?!”

 

“I’m not privy to the Marshal’s plans, Chuck.  I don’t know why he’s looking to bring him back.  I just… Your dad and I wanted you to hear it from one of us… thought maybe… it might sting a little less.”

 

“I am more than fucking good enough.  Cherno and Crimson, too!  We are all more than fucking good enough to handle this!  We don’t need some fucking hack to swoop the fuck back in and play the fucking hero he ain’t!”

 

Aurora let Chuck stomp off, muttering a colorful litany of invectives and with apple bits falling off his hand.  Aurora hoped he wasn’t off to confront Pentecost.  In the same breath she fervently hoped business had called Pentecost away from the Shatterdome.

 

Aurora cleaned up the remnants of their lunch and headed up to LOCCENT for her shift.

 

“You’ve been hanging out with Baby Hansen way too much.”

 

“What makes you come to that conclusion, Tender?” Aurora asked, with a little upward quirk of the corners of her mouth, sliding into her station.

 

“You’re wearing combat boots and a Henley.  And for some reason, I imagine that if Baby Hansen were a girl, his hair would be braided just like yours is.  All messy and stuff.”

 

“Henley’s are comfy.” Aurora answered with a shrug.

 

“I saw you two in the kwoon earlier.” Tendo said a few minutes later, a study in forced casual.  “Didya tell Chuck?”

 

“Yep.  And it was worse than I expected.  But also better.”

 

“Explain that to me.”

 

“He got so fuming and irate he mulched a whole apple with the strength of his grip – though I think he was too insta-pissed to notice.  But he didn’t throw, break or punch anything.  Also, he took the news of Pentecost being close to finding Becket and bringing him back as an aspersion on the piloting abilities of Cherno and Crimson too.”

 

Tendo’s eyebrows rose near to his hairline.  “That’s fairly surprising to hear, actually.  You _have_ been a good influence on Chuck.”

 

“Why does everyone always seem so surprised that Chuck isn’t a complete asshole?”

 

“Because he usually is.  And I’m not saying that to be mean.  I know that being an asshole is how Chuck’s dealt with the world since his mom died.”

 

Tendo had a point there.

 

“See, I can be empathetic, too.  Even to little shits.”

 

“Yes, that last comment just,” Aurora mimed an explosion complete with sound effects, “blew my mind with your empathy.”

 

Tendo just grinned that shit-eating grin of his in response.

 

It turned out (thank you, God, for small mercies) that the day Aurora had broken the news to Chuck, Pentecost and Mako had gone somewhere on business.

 

So, Chuck being Chuck when he’s mad – he avoided the hell out of everyone.  He is occasionally seen in the on-site gym beating the hell out of a punching bag, but no one’s actually dumb enough to go near him.

 

“Hopefully the little shit gets this out of his system before he gets back.  Stacks’ll be in no mood to deal with Chuck.” Herc grumbled at lunch one day, a few days into this moody, broody fit of pique Chuck’s maintaining.

 

“Dealing with UN bullshit?” Aurora asked.

 

“No.” Herc said, reaching for the mashed potatoes.  “He and Mako went to go see Sevier.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Precisely.”

 

Chuck, to all appearances, seemed to either get over his temper tantrum or pushed it into the background by the time Pentecost returns.

 

“Is koala still upset about something that might not happen?” Sasha inquired of Aurora at dinner.

 

Aurora choked on her water, laughing so hard some of the water came out of her nose.  Aleksis, laughing herself, handed napkins to Aurora.

 

“Spasibo.” Aurora coughed, wiping up the mess.

 

“So, how is little Hansen?”

 

“He’s not hiding in his room or wherever it was but I swear there’s a fight in the offing.  Chuck is… is stewing on this.”

 

“Not healthy.” Sasha sagely intoned.  “Boy needs outlet.”

 

“I wouldn’t call him on this; or calling him boy or… or ‘koala’ to his face.  You might have a foot, several kilos and a decade-ish, on him, but he will try and make an outlet for being called ‘koala’ and ‘boy’ to his face all over yours.”

 

“Baby Hansen is welcome to try.” Sasha shrugged, totally not bothered by the idea of fighting a hornet-mad Chuck Hansen.  “if it makes him feel better.”

 

“Aurora tells to me that when she tells to our little koala this news that Becket may return, he takes news to mean Pentecost does not trust piloting capabilities of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon.” Aleksis informed her husband.

 

Sasha’s eyes flickered over Aurora’s shoulder briefly then he snorted.

 

“You and little koala writing to each other did little shit some good.”

 

“That is our malyutka, husband.  She is mother personality.  Is what she does.”

 

“Stop trying to hide your peas under your napkin, Aleksis Kaidonovsky; I’ve seen you trying for the last few minutes.”

 

Aleksis flipped Aurora the bird, along with an affectionate ‘fuck off.’  Sasha roared with laughter.

 

“Wife thinks she is sneaky; you can’t hide something like that from Aurora.”

 

“Shut up, Sasha.”

 

“Ahem.” Even as Sasha and Aleksis playfully bicker in rapid fire Russian, that polite cough sliced through the increasing noise level.

 

“Miss Mori, what can we do for you?” Aurora asked, spinning herself around on the bench.

 

“I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment, Officer Talmadge?”

 

“Certainly.” Aurora stood, grabbing her pudding cup (so it can’t be taken – it’s happened before) and following Miss Mori out of the mess.

 

“So, what’s up Miss Mori?”

 

“Marshal Pentecost has tasked me with drawing up a list of candidates that could have drift compatibility with Ranger Becket.”

 

“I know.  Tendo told me.” Aurora added in response to the inquisitive quirk of Mako’s eyebrows.

 

“Tendo Choi is such a gossiper.”

 

“Miss M- Mako, the Shatterdome thrives on gossip.  _Thrives_ upon it.”

 

“Perhaps.” Mako allowed.  “But, I was looking materials over and… I wondered why it was you never ended up in a jaeger.”

 

“I washed out.” Aurora admitted.  She was wondering where this was going, too, since Miss Mori normally wasn’t so nosy.

 

“I am still trying to understand.  You and Herc comprised some of the top times and scores of your class.  Indeed, your simulation count is very good – of 50 drops you successfully killed a kaiju 45 times; the next closest was Herc with 43.”

 

“Look, Miss Mori, I am well aware that I am the one person in my class who achieved a 90% score in the sims.  I am very aware of that.  I don’t know why, but the closest the shrinks got to explaining it was that an event in my past has built an isolation wall in my head that has rendered me useless for piloting.

 

“And,” Aurora forged on, a suspicion growing in her mind about where this was going and the need to head Mako off before it went farther.  “And I am not insensitive to the compliment that I think you’re paying me, but… no.  If I am on a list of candidates you wish to pit against Raleigh Becket, I respectfully ask that you remove my name from that list with all haste.”

 

“May I ask why?”

 

“Becket and I have a history.  It is excruciatingly painful and personal and not history I want to re-live.  And I think also that this shared history will make us incompatible.”

 

“I understand.” Mako nodded.  “Your name will be removed from the list of candidates.”

 

“Thank you.  And please, don’t tell anyone what I have told you.”

 

“Of course.  I would not betray a confidence.”

 

“Thank you.” Aurora repeated.

 

Mako and Aurora parted ways and Aurora decided to go hide.  Since dinner is currently going on, she figured K-Science would be as good a place as any.


	7. Tidbits, Naps in K-Science, and First Encounters of the Ex Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking refuge in the same area twice is the makings of a pattern. But it comes with awesome cups of tea so Aurora can't really complain.

The lab – with a bright yellow caution line painted down the middle – is deserted.  Aurora wandered over the line onto Doctor Gottlieb’s side of the lab, finding a couch tucked away in an alcove hidden from view by his chalkboards.

 

“Sneaky.” Aurora observed to the air.  The next noise from her is an appreciative moan as Aurora sank into soft cushions.

 

“If we make it out of this alive, I am stealing this couch.”

 

“I think my wife would object.”

 

“Christ’s testicles, Hermann!” Aurora swore, jumping up from the couch.

 

“Apologies.” Hermann said, shuffling into view and sitting down at the other end.

 

“If I may ask – why are you in the lab?”

 

“Seemed as good a place as any to hide and calm down while dinner was going on.  But I can go if you would like your lab back.”

 

“Oh, no, no.  Newton’s not here, so I also came for some peace and quiet.  There’s more than enough room for two.”

 

“Thank you.  And did I hear you say ‘wife?’”

 

There’s no missing the smile on Hermann’s face.  He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

 

“My wife, Vanessa.” Hermann announced a moment later, handing the phone to Aurora.

 

“Damn.  And I say that with respect.”

 

“Despite what Newton has lead the Shatterdome to believe, I am capable of reading into things people say and discerning the meaning.”

 

Aurora looked back at the photo of a smiling woman with a mass of curly hair and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

  
“She looks as smart as she is beautiful.  And if I had to hazard a guess, I would say that she has one hell of a wicked sense of humor.”

 

“I tend to think that Vanessa is smarter than me; she’s every bit my equal in terms of brains but she can speak to people and navigate social situations and empathize far better than I ever will.”

 

“Don’t sell yourself short, Hermann.  Uh, sorry, I… forgot you don’t really like your given name.”

 

“It’s alright.” Hermann said, waving his hand.  “May I ask you a question?”

 

“Yeah, go right ahead.”

 

“Would your picking the lab as a place of refuge have any connection to the day we met in Sydney?”

 

“You remember that?” Aurora blurted before thinking, surprised.

 

“It’s not every day one gets mad enough to throw a bit of kaiju at a colleague and hit someone else instead.” Hermann explained.  “I was just glad it wasn’t the Marshal; no offense.”

 

“Ah.  No offense taken,” Aurora nodded.  “And, yes, there is a connection to Sydney, albeit a bit of a nebulous one.  It’s…”

 

“You don’t have to say anymore if you do not wish to; I understand how frustrating not achieving a goal you have worked so hard for can be.”

 

“Did you want to be a jaeger pilot, too?”

 

“Of course I did.  You would have to be brain dead – or a kaiju groupie – to not want to climb into the conn-pod of a 260 foot tall behemoth.  Writing the code for the Mark-1’s was the closest I ever got.”

 

“Is that why you offered me tea?”

 

Hermann nodded.  “It was something my grandmother did when someone was upset.  You seemed rather upset, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to offer a cup.”

 

Aurora’s smiled a small smile.  “I’ll say it again: Don’t sell yourself short, Gottlieb.”

 

“Thank you.  Now, you are welcome to stay as long as you like, but I have calculations to work on.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Hermann hobbled out of sight and soon enough Aurora hears the tap-tap, scratch and slide of chalk.  Stretching out on that crazy comfortable couch, a hand thrown haphazardly over her eyes, Aurora lay there and let the noise of Hermann working lull her and calm her…

 

The next time Aurora is even remotely aware of her surroundings, it’s mildly unpleasant.

 

There’s a 55-ish pound weight on her chest and warm though it is it’s not particularly pleasant when combined with said weight breathing its stinky breath in her face.

 

“You are one asshole of a koala, Hansen.” Aurora murmured, bringing a hand up anyway to pet Max.  He happily huffed in her face in return.

 

“Oh, God, dog breath.” Aurora moaned, attempting to sit up and getting as far as her elbows.

 

“I’m not an asshole.” Chuck grinned, picking up Max to stick him on Aurora’s legs.  “Nor am I a bloody koala.”

 

“I know Max didn’t get himself up on my torso and position himself just so.  What’re you doing down here?  You hate K-Science.”

 

“While it is true this place makes me twitchy and I want to fucking fire Striker’s chest rockets in here and destroy it all, I was looking for you.  The Kaidonovsky’s came looking for me.  They said you never came back to dinner after going off with Mako.  Everything okay?”

 

“Yeah.  Miss Mori wanted to ask me some questions.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“About why I wasn’t in a jaeger, basically.  She had gone through records, looked at my sims.  Mako said she was trying to understand why I hadn’t been in a jaeger when I had a better drops to kills score than your dad.  Then in so many words I discover that she’s got me on the candidate list—“

 

“For testing with Becket?” Chuck interrupted, thunderstruck.

 

“Yep, hole-in-one.  And as vaguely and obliquely as I can, I explained to Mako that I had history of a painful and personal kind with Becket that would make us incompatible.  She agreed to take me off the list.  I wandered and ended up here.”

 

“Ah.  Well, I got some more good news for ya.”

 

“Lay it on me.”

 

“He’s here.”

 

“Wha’?!” Aurora cried, springing into a sitting position and dislodging Max from her legs, who gives Aurora an ‘I am so betrayed’ look.

 

“Yeah.  The drongo got here about 2 hours ago.  Herc introduced himself.  And me.” Chuck complained, pulling a face.

 

“Thank the bloody gods I’ve been dyeing my hair for the last 10 years.”

 

“No kidding.  C’mon, let’s go get lunch and after we can take Max for a walk.  I’ve been neglecting his walks.”

 

“You’re a bad doggy dad.” Aurora joked.

 

Max, following behind, seemingly barked in agreement.

 

“Traitor.” Chuck told his dog, with zero rancor in his voice.

 

“Ooh, it’s meatloaf day.” Aurora says excitedly once they walk into the mess.  “Max is gonna be all over us for scraps.”

 

“When is he ever not?” Chuck remarked as he picks up a tray and passed it to Aurora before grabbing his own.

 

“Fair point.” Aurora agreed as they join the line.  “Hey, Ling.  How’s little Bolin?”

 

“He is much better.” Ling answered, smiling brightly.  “Thank you for asking.  And for recommending that herbal remedy.”

 

“You’re very welcome.  I’m just glad the little guy is doing better.”

  
Ling responded by smiling again at Aurora and putting an extra helping of meatloaf on her tray.

 

“Show me your ways, master.” Chuck joked as they head for an empty table.

 

“It’s… I don’t have any secret ways.  I’m just nice to people.  You could do the same with a little practice.”

 

“No, I can’t.”

 

“Yes, you can.” Aurora insisted.  “Lots of people in this ‘dome and around the world don’t know how to ‘people.’  They just fake it until they make it, so to speak.”

 

Aurora put the second serving on a spare plate and puts it on the floor.  Max fell upon said plate with gusto.

 

“You’re gonna make my dog fat.”

 

“If anyone turns Max into a butterball, it’ll be you.” Aurora countered, pointing at Chuck with her fork for emphasis.

 

“Oh, fuck me.” Aurora deadpan blurted upon looking up from her tray a moment later.

 

“What?”

 

“Your father is bringing Raleigh bloody Becket over here.  Fuck.”

 

“You wanna leave?”

 

“No.  He’s not gonna dictate where and when I go.”

 

“That’s my girl.”

 

“Oh go boil your head, Hansen.”

 

“What’s Chuck done this time?” Herc asked as he rounded the table to sit down, Raleigh following a moment later.

 

“Oi, what makes you think I did something, old man?”

 

“I’ve told you not to call me that, _sprog_.” Herc shot back, ignoring Chuck’s middle finger reaction.  “Anyway, introductions.  Raleigh, this is—“

 

“Rory.  I work in LOCCENT with Tendo Choi.” Aurora butted in.  She wanted the cat to stay in the bag very much.

 

“I’ve known Tendo awhile.  How is working with him?”

 

Aurora shrugged.  “Easy enough.  He’s pretty chill.” She replied before shoveling food in her mouth.

 

And in the next moment Chuck jumped in and does his whole ‘I am a _giant_ dick and a better pilot than you’ routine on Raleigh, needling him about where’s been for the last five years, how long since he’s jockeyed, what’s he been doing, etc., etc.  Aurora calmly sits there, eating her lunch and largely ignoring this exchange while Herc has this ‘Christ, not again’ look going on as he eats his potatoes – his favorite dinner food.  And Aurora is, granted, cheering Chuck on (silently) because she knows in part why he’s doing this whole spiel, so she stays quiet right up until Chuck’s final line: “If you slow me down, I will drop you like a sack of kaiju shit.”

 

“’Drop you like a sack of kaiju shit?’  Dude, I was _eating_.  And _enjoying it_.” Aurora protested, putting her fork on her plate and pushing her tray away.

 

Chuck smirked and shrugged like it’s no big deal and walked away, calling for Max as he left.

 

Herc shook his head and said to Raleigh, by way of apology, “I’d give a wide berth with that one.  I raised him on me own, he’s a smart kid, but I never knew whether to give him a hug or a kick in the ass.”

 

“With respect, sir, I’m pretty sure which one he needs.”

 

And that remark annoyed Aurora.  Putting down the fork she had just picked back up, she glared at the pair.

 

“The answer is always ‘hugs,’ _Hercules_.  And as for you, _Raleigh_ , you have no room to complain, whatsoever.” With that Aurora got up, grabbed her tray, bussed it and got the hell out of there.

 

She missed Raleigh looking at Herc and quietly going “What the hell?” and Herc’s reply of:

 

“Women are strange and mysterious creatures, Becket.  Especially that one.”

 

Aurora headed for the jaeger bays, finding Cherno’s crew elbow deep in both knees.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Replacing the ball joints.” Dmitri explained, wiping his hands on a greasy rag.  “K-Science Curmudgeon has predicted Double Event.  We are making certain Cherno Alpha is battle ready.”

 

“D-Did you say ‘Double Event?’”

 

“Yes.  Aleksis thinks this is why Marshal went to find Becket.  We need all the jaegers we can get.  Even if they must be piloted by quitters.”

 

Dmitri and Chuck weren’t the only people in the Shatterdome who felt that way, Aurora realized as the day goes on.  It was nice, in a bitchy, vindictive sort of way, to learn this.

 

It all started to come crashing down, in a manner of speaking, the next morning.  Aurora is about to go on a morning run around the Shatterdome when she spotted Chuck thundering up the corridor toward her.

 

“Who set fire to your ass?” Aurora jokingly asked.

 

“Y-You’re on the—the list.” Chuck panted, chest heaving as he tried to get his breathing regulated.

 

“What list?”

 

“For Becket’s co-pilot trials.”

 

“MAKO MORI!!!!” Aurora thundered, making people in the hall jump about a mile.


	8. Protective Pilots, Kwoon Trials, and the First Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bets are made on the fighting skills of Shatterdome inhabitants after a ghost returns to the Shatterdome...

As Providence would make it, Miss Mori rounded the corner with Marshal Pentecost but a moment later.

 

“Be careful.” Chuck muttered to Aurora as she stalked up the hallway.

 

“Did you yell, Officer Talmadge?”

 

“Miss Mori, I asked you to take me off that list and you agreed.”

 

“She put you back on the list because I directed her to do so.” Marshal Pentecost informed Aurora, his voice low and calm, but still carrying the weight of authority.

 

“Why?” Aurora asked, and no, goddamit, that did not come out as a whine.  It did _not_.

 

“You were talented with promise of being a good ranger and jaeger pilot.  It’s high time you were put into a jaeger.  I will use any resource at my disposal in this war.  Report to the kwoon as soon as you’ve changed.” Pentecost finished by way of dismissal.

 

Aurora could only gape at Pentecost’s back as he moved around Aurora and down the hall, Miss Mori hurrying along in his wake.

 

“What.  The.  Unholy.  Fucking.  Hell.” Aurora seethed through clenched teeth.

 

“Sorry, ‘Rora.” Chuck soothed, putting a hand on her shoulder.  “But the way I see it, you can disobey Pentecost, not go, and get in some serious shit with the Marshal.  Or you can go and throw this match.  Or you can go and beat the shit out of him.”

 

“Of course I’m gonna go beat the shit out of him.  Let’s consider this the first of many ass-kicking’s he’s owed.”

 

Chuck grinned evilly.  “Oh, I’m gonna enjoy watching this.  Go change, we don’t want you to be any later to the kwoon.”

 

“Rory is going to the kwoon?” Sasha boomed, he and Aleksis coming up the hall.

 

“This is good for Sasha.  He has been not to the kwoon in long time.”

 

“Sasha tells to you lies; it is her who has not been in kwoon for long time.” Sasha scoffed.

 

“I’m not going for shits and giggles.  The bloody Marshal’s orders.”

 

“What for?” Aleksis wanted to know.

 

“You explain.” Aurora told Chuck.  “I have to go change.” Aurora punched in the door code and slipped back inside.  Off came her jogging clothes and on comes the loose, dark blue pants worn for training and her boots and a dark grey long-sleeve top with thumbholes.  Grabbing necessaries to do her hair, Aurora headed out.

 

“Is him?” Sasha asked Aurora, the look on his face, and Aleksis’, cloudy (at best).

 

“Is him.” Aurora replied, twisting her hair up into a bun as she walked down the steps.

 

The Kaidonovsky’s shared look goes from cloudy to ‘dark thunderheads that promise painful retribution.’

 

“No making his life miserable until I’ve kicked his ass, you three.” Aurora ordered, starting the process of tying her bun down.  It’s hardly regulation, but at this point no one’s going to complain.

 

And the responses coming from Chuck, Aleksis and Sasha are 3 different variations of:

 

“Oh, we wouldn’t dream of it.”

 

Aurora pretended to not notice how the three of them flank her as they walked to the kwoon.  She found it a little touching, truth be told.

 

Raleigh’s already there, on the center mats, hanbo slung casually across the top of his back.  The other candidates are crowded around the sides of the room.  And there, standing on a little platform that overlooked the floor are Pentecost and Mori.

 

“Rangers.”

 

“Marshall.  Miss Mori.  We are observing.  Do not mind us.” Sasha grinned, looking positively feral.

 

Pentecost nodded before turning to the recruits.  “Good morning.  You are all here because Miss Mori…”

 

“I’ve got 200 bucks on Rory kicking Becket’s ass.” Chuck muttered in a low voice.

 

“You are on, little Hansen.  Terms?” Aleksis inquired.

 

“Rory gets Becket’s feet off the ground in under 2 minutes.  And she lands first point.”

 

“Done.” Sasha agreed, shaking Chuck’s hand.  “We put on extra hundred if Rory nails his ass in 30 seconds.”

 

“A piece?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“That’s 300 to pay out if you lose.”

 

“Not a problem.”

 

“I agree then.” Chuck affirmed.

 

“Can I get in on this?” Aurora muttered, as Pentecost finished up his speech and beckoned the first candidate forward.

 

“No.  We’re betting on _you._ ”

 

The morning dragged on and Becket sent candidate after candidate to the mat.  He’s not bad, especially when you consider he’s not been training or eating regularly the last 5 years.

 

 _I could have jogged around the Shatterdome twice, showered and eaten breakfast and still been on time_.  Aurora thought as the approximately umpteenth person lost to Becket without scoring a point on him.  _Hell, if I’d known Pentecost was going to make me wait I_ would have _brought breakfast with me_.

 

Aurora rolled her neck in an attempt to work out some stiffness starting to build.  She looked up in time to see Pentecost beckoning her forward.

 

 _About bloody time_.  Aurora thought, catching the hanbo from the last candidate as he limped out the door.

 

“Rory?  I didn’t think—“

 

“It’s a long story, Becket.  And not one I really want to talk about.”

 

“Fair enough.  Ready to go?”

 

“Yep.” Aurora slid the hanbo down her hands a bit and resisted the temptation to beat her ex with the stick.  Instead she lets Raleigh come to her, blocking a side hit in the next moment.

 

The next forty-two seconds are a flurry of vicious, frenetic activity that fill the kwoon with sharp click-clack noises every time the hanbo’s made contact.  Aurora saw her opening and went for it.

 

Raleigh’s hand briefly came off one end of the hanbo; while his attention is momentarily diverted Aurora made her hanbo vertical, slid it up (so it’s trapped behind Raleigh’s because he has now gotten his hand back on the stick), quickly repositioned her grip and with all her might she twisted and _pulled_.

 

The end result of this twisting is that Raleigh Becket got flipped over Aurora’s shoulder and landed on the mat, kinda hard.

 

“That’s my girl!” Chuck crowed, his voice seeming quite loud in the sudden silence of the kwoon.

 

“One.” Aurora said to Raleigh, who’s still lying on the mats and looking a little unsure, like he was trying to parse the whole ‘how he ended up on the mat’ thing.  Aurora looked up at Pentecost, who has an inscrutable look on his face.  “And done.” Aurora hoped she had gotten her point across.

 

Aurora stalked out of the kwoon before Pentecost can lecture her for insubordination, going to just around the first corner and waiting for the others to catch up.

 

Aurora heard them coming; with Chuck it’s kind of hard _not_ to hear him coming.

  
“I told you,” Chuck insisted as he and the Kaidonovsky’s round the corner.  “I told you Rory’d get his feet to leave the mat – you two owe me 300 a pop; pay up Sasha.  Aleksis.” Chuck gloated, putting slight emphasis when looking at the Kaidonovsky’s (and assigning the correct names to them).

 

“Little Hansen must feel _so_ proud he has finally gotten our names right.” Aleksis grumbled as she and Sasha dutifully (if a bit slowly) pulled out their wallets and paid up.  A bet is a bet after all.

 

Chuck counted out half the cash and held it out to Aurora.

 

“Your cut, m’lady.”

 

“Thanks.  C’mon, let’s go get something to eat.  I’m starving.”

 

It’s practically lunch time anyway, so the others agree to the proposal.  Chuck’s pulled away almost the moment the group enters the mess.  The remaining three grab trays and join the buffet line.

 

“Little koala is in better mood today.” Sasha said in an aside to Aurora.

 

“That’s cuz he got to see me kick some ass.  Though I totally think I’ll be sore come tonight; Raleigh’s a heavy fucker.”

 

“We must decide what we will do to him.  And if we wait until Breach is closed.  And should we wait until Pitfall?  Or do it before?  Or after?”

 

“In that case, we should inform crew what to do to Becket if we do not make it back.” Sasha pointed out to her husband.

 

“Pitfall isn’t as serious as all that, surely?”

 

“Is a possibility that we will not come back.  Is a possibility we won’t come back each time we step into Cherno.” Aleksis’ voice is patient and gentle.

 

“Yes, well, I’m trying to be optimistic here.  It’s a failing of mine, trying to have a good outlook on things.”

  
“Is not failing, malyutka.” Sasha promptly responded.

 

Sasha and Aleksis spent the rest of the meal plotting and discarding various methods of causing Raleigh hell.  They ranged from only mild discomfort to scenarios that could put Raleigh in medical for varying lengths of time.

 

Aurora listened, occasionally contributes, but largely she stayed out of it.  Her mind was on other things.

 

She knew Cherno Alpha is the slowest (and oldest) jaeger they have, but she’s got the thickest armor.  It had never – not once! – occurred to her before that Pitfall (an operation that anybody in the Shatterdome has only heard the barest rumor of) could end with the death of one or… or all of the jaeger teams.

 

“Is Pitfall really going to be that bad?” Aurora said aloud later on that night.

 

She’s in LOCCENT, fixing the tower of one of the computers, while Tendo is the one who has pulled night duty this time.

 

“What’ve you heard?” Tendo asked, his voice and expression careful.

 

“Sasha… He said there was a chance they might not come back.  He also pointed out that every time he and Aleksis stepped into Cherno there was a chance they might not come back.”

 

“The Russian Hulk has got a point.” Tendo replied, not taking his eyes off the monitor.

 

“And you won’t look at me, which is making me nervous that it’s worse than everything I’ve heard about Pitfall – and that’s little enough.”

 

“Look, Rory, I can’t tell you anything I may or may not know about this upcoming operation.  You’ve not been read-in.”

 

“I know, I know.”

 

Now Aurora started to wonder about how… suicidal Pitfall was if the normally so relaxed and casual Tendo Choi was pulling an official party line like ‘you’ve not been read-in’ on Aurora.

 

But of course, Aurora liked Tendo and she didn’t wish to start a fight with him so she let the matter drop; a fact that Tendo is very grateful for.

 

“I’m gonna go grab some coffee from the mess; you want anything?”

 

“No, thank you.  I’m almost done with this tower and I was just gonna go to bed after.”

 

“Cool, cool.  You mind keeping an eye on the instruments for me?”

 

“No problem.”

 

While Tendo is gone, Aurora finished up with the tower and hooked it back up, turning the machine on long enough to verify everything is back in working order.  And once that’s done, Aurora’s has exactly squat to do but twiddle her thumbs until Tendo reappeared.

 

Answering a text from a sleepy – and slowly embracing anything not jaeger technology – Chuck ‘ _wake mee up @ 6 prease?_ ’ with a succinct ‘ _the fuck do I look like?  your butler?_ ’, Aurora heard voices approaching LOCCENT.

 

“… don’t understand, Tender.  I’ve done nothin’ to her.  But I just keep getting these intense ‘stay away, I don’t like you’ vibes from her.”

 

“Have you tried talking to her about it, brother?  Rory’s a real smart woman, she’s funny as hell and she’s never been intentionally cruel to anyone.”

 

Aaahh, Aurora thought, they’re talking about her.  Quick as you like, Aurora pillowed her head in her arms on her desk and effected sleep.

 

“I don’t… I literally had my ass handed to me on a silver platter in the kwoon today –“

 

“I know, I heard.” Tendo interrupted something akin to glee in his voice.

 

“And it felt… really damn personal.”

 

“I don’t know what to tell you, Becket boy.  I’ve been working with her for the last 9 months – she was in Vladivostok for most of the war before the UN told us to fuck off.  And shh, she’s sleeping.”

 

“Who’s sleeping?” Raleigh asked in far too loud a voice.

 

“I was.” Aurora ‘grumped,’ rising from her chair.  “Oh, stop looking like a kicked puppy, Becket.  Nothing exciting happened on the instruments, I’m off to bed.  G’night, Elvis.”

 

“Good night.” Tendo called as Aurora beat a hasty retreat.

 

Halfway back to her room, her phone vibrated.

 

_I split a boox of Tim Tams w/ you if you wake me up._

 

 _Deal_.

 

Aurora set the alarm on her phone and headed for bed, headed straight to her quarters.  It’s interesting that Raleigh was going to Tendo for advice… or… whatever the hell it was that had him talking to Tendo about Aurora.  Then again… she knew Tendo had been LOCCENT chief in the Icebox, served with the Beckets.

 

Putting the idea out of her mind, Aurora hit the pad attached to the lock, quickly punching in the 4-digit code and heading in.

 

The alarm going off, loudly, is the next thing that Aurora is aware of.


	9. Tim Tams, Bitching and Enter: Pandemonium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chocolate-y junk food is held hostage and the Kaidonovsky's continue their plotting while everyone's too busy to notice and/or stop them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at summaries. I am SO sorry about that.

“Fuck.” She muttered, scrubbing her face with her hands.  “Why did I agree to this?  Oh, yes.  Tim Tams.”

 

Aurora groaned and shuffled for the bathroom.  She donned jogging clothes (she’s nowhere near awake enough for anything more complicated), sitting on the steps to her room to tie her shoes.  It’s only another moment after that to walk down the hall and punch in the code to the Hansen’s room.

 

Aurora slipped in and shut the door as quietly as she can manage, giving up at the end when she looked and saw that Herc isn’t sleeping in his bunk.  So Aurora let it slam shut at that point, knowing Chuck is like every pilot when he doesn’t have to get up at ass o’clock to go fight kaiju – he slept like the dead.  She turned her attention to the younger Hansen’s bunk and smothered a laugh.

 

Chuck is asleep on his back, one hand casually resting on his stomach.  The other hand (and arm) is wrapped around Max, hugging his bulldog close.  Now, this would be a rather adorable and sweet, were it not for the fact Chuck’s hugging the back end of his dog and said end is real close to his face.

 

Aurora bent down and lifted Chuck’s arm so she could gently persuade Max onto the bed instead of Chuck’s chest.

 

“Da fuck?” Chuck sleepily cursed as Max woke up, huffed and headed for the open bathroom door.

 

“I’m your wake up call, stupid.  And Max is headed for the –“

 

“He’s got a piddle pad in the toilets.” Chuck grunted, pulling his pillow over his head.

 

“Oh.”  Then – “C’mon, get your lazy ass up.”

 

“Urgh.”

 

“Chuck, you asked me to get you up at ass o’clock in the morning.  I am here, I kinda wanna know why and, most importantly, I want my damn Tim Tams.  I was told there would be Tim Tams.  Don’t tell me – the Tim Tams are a lie.”

 

“Is my old man up?”

 

“Yes.  He’s gone and his bed’s been made.  Did you seriously make me get up and get your ass up in an effort to be awake before your dad?”

 

“No.” Chuck’s denial came a beat too late.

 

“Fuck you, I am taking all the Tim Tams.” Aurora grumped, getting up and heading for Chuck’s desk, where he kept all of his comfort food that he won’t admit to having.

 

“Like hell.” Chuck declared, rolling out of bed – again, just a smidge too late.  Aurora’s grabbed the box and has shoved it under her shirt.

 

“You want half of these, you make it up to me.”

 

“You’ve been with the Russians too damn long.” Chuck groused, his glare losing strength because it’s coming from a face surrounded by bedhead.  “What do I have to do?”

 

“Go take a piss, brush your teeth to get rid of that foul morning breath, put some clothes on.  You’re coming on a run with me.”

 

“Fuck!”

 

“Move it, my cranky koala,” Aurora gave Chuck a shove in the direction of the bathroom.

 

“C’mon Max,” Aurora cooed, swiping the dog’s leash off a shelf above the desk.  “Let’s go wait for your daddy outside.”

 

Max whoofed and followed Aurora out of the room with Chuck protesting about the use of the word ‘koala.’

 

Max actually seemed really excited to be going for a walk; he’s got his whole butt wiggling he’s wagging his stubby little tail so hard.

 

“You’re so excitable sometimes, Max.  But you are so my adorable little man, yes, you are.” Aurora fussed over Max, smushing his face and letting Max lavish ‘kisses’ all over Aurora.

 

“Stop attempting to seduce my dog.” Chuck grouched as he finally made an appearance.

 

“There’s no need for me to seduce your dog, he already loves me.”

 

“Let’s get this over with.”

 

“Try and be happier about this, Chuck.  Max is.” Aurora clipped Max’s leash to his collar and they were off – after putting the Tim Tams in a passing Tendo Choi’s care – around the Shatterdome.

 

Chuck griped and bitched and moaned about having to run and the fact that Aurora had taken the Tim Tams.

 

“You know, one often forgets that you’re a Grade-A jaeger pilot with how fluently you’ve bitched like a man-child through the last lap and a half.” Aurora bitched right back as they round the last corner.  “It’s only 2 bloody laps around the Shatterdome and there’s still plenty of time for you to have the breakfast you seem to think you’re going to miss.”

 

Chuck, while being in prime physical condition, was not a runner in the slightest.  So it was not out of the realm of possibility for Aurora to do what she did after sniping at Chuck for his whinging: Pulling ahead and leaving him in the metaphorical dirt and dust.

 

When Chuck made it back into the Shatterdome proper, Aurora is nowhere to be seen.  But, Max is where he was told to wait after the first lap; and sitting on the ground next to him is half a box of Tim Tams.

 

“Oi, Elvis, I need a favor.” Chuck hailed Tendo (after showering).

 

Aurora is sitting in her chair at her station in LOCCENT, reading a book and almost totally absorbed in it.  She liked to think she jumped only a little when someone, from behind, leant over to put a mug of coffee down.  Aurora marked her place in the book and spun around to see Chuck standing there looking… almost contrite.

 

“Sorry.” Chuck apologized to his boots.  “I was a dick to you this morning and you did nothing to deserve it.”

 

“Thank you.” Aurora said, accepting his apology.  It’d be a pretty big dick move to make Chuck go into detail, so she won’t.  “What’s in the cup?”

 

“I asked Tendo to make you a cup of his coffee.”

 

“Ooh.” Aurora said, her face lighting up, spinning right back around to grab the cup.  “Delicious.” Came the happy sigh.

 

“So… old man wants to have a go at me in the kwoon, so I will see you later.”

 

“Alright.  Don’t forget to guard your right leg.” Aurora yelled as Chuck left.

 

The week went on.  The Breach is monitored closely – even more so because of Gottlieb’s predicted Double Event – and Becket’s candidate trials _drag_ on.  Aurora does her job, worked out in the gym or with someone in the kwoon, and does her best to avoid Raleigh and pretended to not hear the increasingly elaborate (and varying degrees of legality) pranks the Kaidonovsky’s are planning out.  She intervened only once during lunch one day.

 

“Okay, while I find it sweet that you guys love me this much – I am drawing the line at anything that could put you in prison.”

 

“Spoilsport.” Sasha pouted.

 

“Damn straight.  Now, I have a meeting to attend, have fun with your plots.”

 

“What meeting?” Aleksis curiously asked.

 

“You’ll find out.  Some day.” Aurora cryptically replied as she leaves the pilots’ quarters.

 

Passing by the kwoon on the way to the meeting, Aurora’s curiosity got the better of her.  Slipping into the kwoon, Aurora observed this latest batch.  And it’s like Becket’s not even trying anymore, he just sends them all to the mat in a move or two.  Or he’s toying with them and dragging it out to the first person to hit four points.

 

And Miss Mori called him on this in no nonsense, no uncertain terms.  It was a little amusing, truth be told, watching Raleigh being told off.  Less amusing was seeing some of his old personality coming out and goading Mako and her father into a match.

 

Of course, it got a lot more amusing when Mako took the fight with some kind of awesome leg-hook-roll move.  Though that awesomeness is again tempered somewhat by the realization that Raleigh and Mako are drift compatible.  Aurora slipped out as _that_ particular scene unfolded.

 

“You are late.” Dimitri chastised.

 

“Fuck off.” Aurora declared, flipping him the bird for good measure.  “Curiosity overtook me and pulled me into the kwoon.”

 

“Ah.  Pentecost’s Golden Boy still going through candidates then?”

 

“No… Well, if Raleigh gets his way the answer is ‘no.’  Anyway, we are not here to discuss Ranger Becket and the ongoing quest to find him a co-pilot.”

 

The discussion started in earnest at that point and got damn technical and dragged on for several hours.  It was a last ditch, use only in the most extreme of situation ideas.  But, after running the numbers and running them again by Gottlieb it looked good.  And they were going to tell Sasha and Aleksis, but… then Raleigh and Mako happened.

 

It all happened so fast.  Rumors had been swirling that Pentecost wasn’t going to let Mori pilot with Becket, even though everyone and their mother knew that Mako Mori wanted to pilot a jaeger more than anything.  And then Aurora was heading for LOCCENT and walked by the drivesuit room and thought she caught a flash of blue streaks, but did not think too much of it.  All she had been told by Tendo was that they were going to be doing a drift test with Becket and the person that had been selected by Pentecost.

 

The pieces came together when Aurora made it into LOCCENT and saw one incredibly tense Stacker Pentecost standing in front of the windows, staring at Gipsy Danger.  Herc is standing next to him, speaking in a low voice.

 

Aurora looked at Tendo, looked to Pentecost, then back to Tendo.  He nodded once and then turned to the monitors.

 

 _Oh, boy_.  Aurora thought, sliding into the station next to Tendo, not saying a word.

 

“Talmadge, you are in charge of monitoring Gipsy’s systems during the drift test.” Pentecost said without turning to look at her.

 

“Yes, sir.” Aurora immediately responded.

 

The tension in the room does not get any lighter when Raleigh and Mako get into Gipsy and the jaeger started to turn on.  Aurora, intent on her own screens (everything is running normally), doesn’t catch whatever disparaging crack Chuck made but she didn’t miss Herc’s quick, harsh response of telling his kid to be more respectful.

 

“Vital signs?”

 

“Good.  They’ve connected.  The drift is holding stable.” Tendo tersely replied.

 

“Systems?”

 

“Everything is good, sir.” Aurora responded.

 

And then it all went utterly cock-up.  The drift test is going all according to how it should go between two people who are drift compatible.  And then Hermann Gottlieb comes running, _running_ into LOCCENT.  He tried telling Pentecost something, but, understandably Pentecost momentarily does not want to listen until Hermann blurts out that Newt drifted with what was left with Mutavore’s second brain.

 

 _That_ got Pentecost’s attention.  He went running off with Hermann without another word.  Everyone, who had whipped their head’s around at Hermann’s blurted, nay, practically shouted news turned back to their stations and Tendo is the first to notice that Mako and Raleigh have fallen out of sync, with Aurora a beat behind him.

 

“Choi, what the hell is that?” Aurora asks, pointing to the holo-globe as Tendo is going,

 

“Oh, shit.  They’ve dropped out of alignment.  Someone go get Pentecost!”

 

Enter: Pandemonium.


	10. Pandemonium Ends, Hallway Brawls, and Pained Reveals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit's about to get awkward around the 'dome...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used some of the dialog from the fight scene between Chuck and Raleigh, but except for that, everything is all mine. Also, a big ol' thank you to my beta, who helped me flesh out a fight scene and added a necessary detail or two. Fight scenes are not exactly my forte and I did try hard (and rewrote it more than once) to try and make it read better.

There is no way to really tell who knocked who out of alignment, especially as the shit hit the fan even harder as Raleigh is trying to explain who did the knocking and who is now chasing a R.A.B.I.T.

 

“Who the hell thought it was a good idea to do this with a loaded plasma cannon?!” Aurora rhetorically asked as she tries everything she can to shut down power to the cannon while Tendo is trying to reach Gipsy again and power her down at the same time.

 

“I don’t think anyone thought this’d happen!” Chuck shouted, going for the wires behind Tendo’s station as Herc ordered all non-essential personnel to “get the hell out!” and Tendo relayed the order in the local dialect.

 

Someone must have alerted Pentecost, or managed to find him, because he came charging into LOCCENT and through the combined efforts of Pentecost, Chuck, Herc and Tendo (after Chuck had bodily thrown Aurora from the room) they cut power to Gipsy Danger.

 

Aurora is ready to kill Chuck or at the very least yell him when the doors slid open.

 

Out marched everyone but Tendo, the looks on their faces grim at best; Chuck barely stopping to check that Aurora is physically unharmed from her unceremonious tossing. Aurora didn’t like that, it made her feel uneasy.

 

“They off to talk about Pitfall?” Aurora asked, poking her head into LOCCENT.

 

“Yeah.” Tendo replied, his face tired and weary.

 

“You okay, Tender?”

 

“I’ll be okay, Rory. You okay? I saw Chuck grab you and throw you out.”

 

“I’ll be fine. My scars are too old to be easily torn. Now, I might be going to tell off Chuck. If you need me, just hail me on the building-wide.”

 

“Have fun.” Tendo said cheerlessly.

 

Mako and Raleigh are already waiting outside Pentecost’s office by the time Aurora gets down there, back in more comfortable clothes. Aurora chose to stand a few feet down the hall from where they are standing. Well, from where Mako is standing and Raleigh is pacing.

 

And as the minutes begin to collect – and the voices raised in anger and frustration bleed through the door – Aurora can’t ignore that Mako has gone from side-glancing at her to flat out staring. It doesn’t take a genius ‘ brain or an idiot’s to realize Mako’s put 2 and 2 together (and Aurora is no idiot).

 

“Balls.” Aurora muttered under her breath.

 

Mako is edging closer to Aurora, while trying to be subtle about it.

 

_Please stay over there, please stay over there, please stay over there. Shit._

 

“Aurora.”

 

“Miss Mori.”

 

“You look different with dark hair.” That’s Mako ‘I-pull-no-punches-when-speaking’ Mori for you.

 

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

 

“I believe you do. I do not know how J-Raleigh has not recognized you yet—“

 

“Because he does not want to, Mako. You were briefly in his head, that should be giving you the bones of understanding into how it works. So… which one of you started the domino?”

 

“Domino?”

 

“The Shatterdome almost getting a new skylight? Who knocked who out of alignment and who chased a R.A.B.I.T.?”

 

“Oh.” Mako says, the blank look of confusion clearing up. “It was Raleigh who knocked us out of alignment. I… I chased the… the R.A.B.I.T.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Mako looked like she might try to broach the “subject” again, but Aurora’s saved by the door to Pentecost’s office opening. Chuck came out, spotted Raleigh and –

 

“Oh, shit. That fight’s coming.”

 

“What fi—“

 

“The one that’s been brewing since Raleigh got here.” Aurora shot out the side of her mouth.

 

“Hey, hey, hey. Let’s not do this in front of Pentecost’s office, you two. Calm down the alpha male attitude.” Aurora tried for humor, tried for a light tone, to diffuse the situation. And failing that, she inserted herself into the small space between Chuck and Raleigh, with Mako stopping next to Raleigh.

 

“You two are a Goddamn disgrace!” Chuck spat out, his frustration making his tongue (which he’s usually pretty good at keeping in check) loose. “You're gonna get us all killed, and here's the thing, Raleigh. I want to come back from this mission, ‘cause I quite like my life. So why don't you just do us all a favor and disappear? It's the only thing you're good at.”

 

“Stop! Now!” Mako argued, as Aurora took the opportunity to shove Chuck back a bit.

 

It is all for naught the moment Chuck used the word ‘bitches.’ Aurora isn’t sure if it’s one or both of them who moved Aurora out of the way so they can have a go at each other, but it happened and it’s Mako who grabbed Aurora and kept her from falling to the ground.

 

“Oh, would you two knock it the hell off!” Aurora yelled as they go at it in the hallway, and an audience gathered quickly.

 

The fight is beautiful to watch in a harsh, brutal way. The both of them clearly know what they are on about in a fist fight. And while Chuck is broader than Raleigh, Raleigh is older and an inch taller has been in dirtier fights than this and knew how to use and press his advantages in a fight.

 

Raleigh executed a combo and threw Chuck into a wall, hard enough to break the pipes. It’s Chuck’s loud, wordless yell, one of ‘holy fuck that hurts,’ that had Aurora changing course and gunning for Raleigh.

 

She got the first punch in mostly because, like when he punched Chuck, Raleigh wasn’t really expecting it. It got him square in the upper lip, the skin splitting. Aurora gave half a thought to whether she might have knocked a tooth loose in his mouth or not. The next thought to flit through her head was one of the pain that coursed through her knuckles. She was going to feel that later _._ Aurora feinted a left hook to Raleigh’s jaw and instead cobbed him in the nose with the elbow of her right arm, trying to spare the split skin of her knuckles.

 

Blood’s coming out of his nose and lip rather freely as Raleigh’s anger won out over his more… (maybe) gallant instincts.

 

Aurora ducked under the ensuing series of punches, using her own advantages (sparring with Sasha, the fact that she _knows_ how ‘Raleigh’ fights, etc.) to land a punch here and a combo there. And Aurora is aware of her time running out; because either Raleigh is going to deck her and knock her out cold or someone is going to separate them.

 

Deflecting Raleigh’s next two punches with her arm and shoulder (Aurora made a quick mental note to get some salve from medical after this), Aurora jumped up and got her legs around his middle and used the weight of her upper body to twist and send Raleigh flying to the ground, with a rather gratifying grunt of pain coming from Raleigh.

 

Before Aurora, however, can really properly get on top of Raleigh and start punching the crap out of him, someone grabbed her and pulled her off, passing her to Chuck.

 

“What the hell is going on?” Pentecost shouted, looking beyond _pissed_.

 

Aurora’s mouth resembled a thin line as she wriggled out of Chuck’s tight grasp. No one is talking.

 

“Pentecost…” Herc said, looking up and down the hall.

 

The Marshal’s practically patented, so scary people have exploded in terror from one flutter of an eyelash stink eye cleared the hallway in less than 10 seconds. Hell, less than 5, if Aurora’s any judge.

 

“We are now alone enough. Ranger Hansen has already been in your head, and judging from the way he’s been glaring at Becket since his arrival – it’s got to do with your ‘thing’ as you called it, in addition to his wounded pride.” Stacker’s sarcastic air quotes did nothing to hide his now towering anger, “Herc and Mako would never betray a confidence. I can conclude that Becket is involved in this ‘thing’ and I am your superior officer and we are at war. I have never before had the time to deal with the petty squabbles of children, and I certainly do not have the time now. Tell me what your issue is, _Officer_ , and what is going on, _now_.”

 

Both Aurora and Chuck jerked backward hard – Chuck less than a beat behind Aurora. Aurora jerked herself back so hard she rammed into Chuck’s chest. He ended up putting his hands on her shoulders, as much for balance as to let her know he’s there.

 

Chuck felt the tension in Aurora’s shoulders and craned his head to check Aurora’s face out. Her eyes are insanely bright and there’s a pained twist to her mouth Chuck recognized as her tell – she’s trying to keep a lid on her temper and not freak the hell out.

 

“Yes,” Aurora’s voice is razor sharp and strained and came out as little more a thin whisper. “Blaming your then fiancée for taking your son to the beach and saying it’s your fault that you lived while the boy died – yeah, I would call that a petty squabble between children.”

 

Aurora spun away from Chuck and stalked down the hall, trying to will the edges of her vision to not get any fuzzier and darker because, by God, she will not faint in front of her ex.

 

“Officer Talmadge, come back here!” Pentecost called out. “Talmadge, I will make it an order if I have to. Come back!”

 

Aurora, without stopping, ripped off her dog tags, threw them behind her and flipped a double bird and kept going.

 

“Rory! Rory! ‘Rora!” Chuck yelled down the hall. He grabbed his face, wincing when he hit the cuts on his face. “Shit. Shit shit shit shit. Four words. In four words, sir, in four bloody words you just wrecked the last five years.”

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“You and Herc both think I can’t compartmentalize for shit. For the last 5 years, I’ve kept my old man out of the portion of my head occupied by Rory. And for the last five bloody years I’ve also been trying to get her to see that Abel’s death wasn’t her fault – because it wasn’t.” Chuck gritted out, looking directly at Raleigh. “It was a tragic accident, but that’s all it was – an accident. And I will bet all the Tim Tams left in Australia that what just hit the floor was her dog tags. And God help you, Becket, when the Kaidonovsky’s find out what happened here; because if I’m Aurora’s quasi-adopted man-child, she is _their_ quasi-adopted lady-child.”

 

In most situations prior to this particular clusterfuck, Chuck has been a good soldier. He obeyed his superior officer’s orders, never really ever spoke out of turn, he waited to be dismissed. It’s Herc who’s always been a bit more hot-headed – that’s why they work so well together piloting Striker, they balance each other out.

 

BUT – But Chuck is worried about one of the few people in the world he calls friend and doesn’t really care at this particular moment about being a terribly good soldier. So he turned and walked away without waiting to be dismissed, stopping only to scoop up what were indeed Aurora’s dog tags.

 

When Chuck got to Aurora’s room what he found there does not instill confidence – her door is wide open and her normally tidy quarters are a mess.

 

“She has not fucking done what I think she has.” Chuck groaned, turning tail and running to the nearest phone to call security. Five minutes later Chuck is cursing a blue streak because the security at the gate confirmed that Officer Talmadge left on foot by the front gate not ten minutes before he called them, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag.

 

Chuck is now considering his options and attempting to plan his next move because like _hell_ will he let Aurora just leave like this.

 

Then his mind dredged up a conversation he and Aurora had five years ago – after their failed drift test. It’s risky and they might all get killed by Pentecost, but… it’d be worth it, Chuck decided.

 

He ran down to K-Science, deciding the gods are with him that Gottlieb is in there, scribbling away at his massive chalkboards.

 

“Gottlieb, got a question for ya.”

 

“Yes, Ranger Hansen, how can I help you?” Gottlieb asked, climbing down from the ladder he was perched on.

 

“The next kaiju attack – can you predict how far away it is?”

 

“With a small margin of error either side—“

 

“I don’t need the technical, detailed answer. Just give it to me straight. I need to know how long I can spend in Hong Kong looking for Rory.”

 

“There should be another event in about 3 days’ time.” Hermann quickly replied, looking a little miffed. “And what’s happened to Officer Talmadge?”

 

“She’s done a bunk and quit and gone into Hong Kong. If you hear from her,” Chuck said in another moment of remembrance, scrawling his number quickly across one empty corner of Gottlieb’s closest chalkboard. “Call that number, it’s mine.”

 

“How do you propose to search a city as vast as Hong Kong in less than three days?!” Hermann yelled after Chuck as he jogged out.

 

“I won’t be doing it on my own!” Chuck yelled back.

 

The passing of several minutes found Chuck now in front of the Kaidonovsky’s door, slightly out of breath from running from K-Science. He knocked, waited and then knocked again, harder this time, when nothing happened.

 

A very naked Sasha answered the door, blinking owlishly against the light coming in from the hall and _juuuust_ holding a sheet up high enough on his body.

 

“Fuck you want, Hansen?” He mumbled, his voice sounding that much rougher and lower from being just woken up.

 

“There was a confrontation earlier and Aurora’s done a bunk into Hong Kong. She once told me that you two would go rogue to hunt down her ex; will you and Sasha do a bunk with me now to find Rory?”

 

“How you propose we find ‘Rora in city of 15 million?”

 

“Max. He might be small but he’s got a great nose.”

 

“We meet you by gate in less than fifteen minute.” Sasha said, shutting the door.

 

10 or so minutes later saw the three jaeger pilots and one confused looking dog exiting the gates after Aleksis cursed out the gate guards in angry Russian.

 

Chuck took the t-shirt Aurora had had on earlier that day and lets Max sniff. “Okay, Max, find Rory!”

 

 


	11. Hunting Down, Heartfelt Speech, and Guard Dog Max

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AWOL Aurora is found using Max's keen sniffer and her friends do their utmost to convince her to come home.

The bulldog barked in answer and put his nose to the ground, following Aurora’s scent. Every so often, Max needed to re-sniff the shirt, but he kept going, taking them farther and farther into Hong Kong. The three of them garnered many a weird look and lingering stare, but no one dared go near the trio – the fierce looks on the Kaidonovsky’s faces doing the job.

 

It took almost two hours into their intrepid wanderings through Hong Kong’s busy and crowded streets before Chuck’s heard his phone ringing.

 

“Whattya want old man?” Chuck said when he finally hears the phone going off.

 

“I’ve been trying to get ahold of your arse for the last two—“

 

“It’s noisy as fuck out here, alright? Lay off.”

 

“Where the hell are ya?”

 

“Right now I am at the corner of…”

 

“Man Ming Lane and Temple Street.” Aleksis murmured, adjusting her dark glasses. Chuck suspected she got dressed without applying any of her war paint, hence the dark sunglasses on an overcast day.

 

“At the corner of Man Ming Lane and Temple Street, according to Aleksis.”

  
“The fuck are you doing out with Kaidonovsky?”

 

“She, Sasha and I are out with Max, looking for Rory, who has quit. Rory hasn’t shown up back at the Shatterdome, has she?”

 

“No, she hasn’t. Didn’t know she’d left.”

 

“She ripped off her dog tags and flipped Pentecost the bird with both hands. What part of that made you thinking she was staying? We’re lucky she didn’t also turn around and tell him to fuck off in the angriest, foulest way possible. Now, if you’ll excuse me” Chuck ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

 

“Big Hansen worried?”

 

“Apparently he’s been trying to call me for the last 2 hours. He’ll get over it. Max, d’you need to sniff the shirt again?”

 

Max took another whiff and took them several blocks north and a bit east of their current location. Another hour saw the three of them and a panting Max (greedily slurping water from a bottle Sasha had had the presence of mind to bring) standing outside of a bar/restaurant in the Wong Tai Sin district, not all that far from the boneslum.

 

“Rory wandered a lot.” Aleksis observed. “Come on little Max, time to bring Rory home.” Sasha bent down and scooped up Max, leading the way into the place.

 

“Back of the room, table corner.” Sasha said after scanning the room for a brief moment.

 

“Corner table.” Chuck and his wife corrected him at the same time.

 

Sasha smiled at that. “Corner table, da.”

 

“So, now that we’ve found Aurora, any thoughts on what we’ll say to her?” Chuck asked as they weave their way through the tables to where she’s tucked away.

 

“We tell her _we_ love her and that _we_ want her back. She is ours. We will share, Baby Hansen.”

 

“Please don’t call me that. I will hit you next time.”

 

“How did you find me?” Aurora’s eyes are glassy and she carried a faint whiff of alcohol around her, letting them know she’s already had a few.

 

“Max; dog has very good sense of smell.” Aleksis said, affectionately rubbing Max’s head as the three of them took seats at the table.

 

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” Aurora asked, looking up from her big glass of beer.

 

“We came to bring you home, malyutka.” Sasha said as if that was super obvious, Max making a little ‘whoof’ noise. “Yes, Max, that is why we are here.”

 

“No.”

 

“Rory, please.”

 

“We want you back. Not to mention on walk here, Chuck tells us that you made miracle happen.” Aleksis informed Aurora.

 

“Miracle?” Aurora blinked, totally confused.

 

“After you, in so many words, revealed what your ‘thing’ was and stalked off, Pentecost looked like he felt incredibly guilty.” Chuck replied. “And like he felt very, very bad about what he’d just done. Not to mention it totally looked like a horse had kicked Raleigh in the face. But not Mako.” He concluded thoughtfully.

 

“She figured it out. Tried asking me about it while we were waiting outside Pentecost’s office. And, no. Don’t wanna.”

 

“I forgot how when you are starting to be drunk you get very stubborn.” Aleksis said, stroking Max (who is shooting his best puppy dog eyes at Aurora) from the crown of his head down the back of his neck.

 

“’Rora, please. I really want you to come back to the Shatterdome. Someone needs to keep the Kaidonovsky’s on the straight and narrow. Plus, if you don’t come back who’s to stop them from dousing Raleigh’s quarters in shitty vodka and then lighting the room on fire?” Chuck quirked the corner of his mouth up at the mental image. “Just imagine _that_ alert.”

 

“Hey!” Aleksis protested.

 

“I’m drunk enough to not mind that outcome right now.” Aurora told him, taking a deep draught of her beer.

 

“How many have you had?” Sasha politely inquired, clearly trying a different tactic, taking up Aurora’s hand and very gently poking and inspecting the burgeoning bruising on the back.

 

“This is myyyyy… seventh beer. Or is’t my sixth?… Seventh… No, it’s mah sixth. Oh. And I’ve also had two shots of vodka. And I had a glass of Makers Mark. That was tasty.”

 

“Aurora.” Sasha sounded a little odd, all prim and formal-like. “Little Hansen and wife and I love you like family. We want family where we know they are safe. So it follows that we want you to come back to ‘dome with us. Many of Cherno’s crew would say the same about you. You are not alone; you have friends and people who love you. And people will be more than happy to play ‘Keep Aurora Away from Becket Asshole.’”

 

“You don’t think I’m—“

 

Aleksis leant across the table and covered Aurora’s mouth. “We all have less than stellar qualities, malyutka, and yet there are people who see past those and love us just the same. Like you and Hansen junior, here. He can be giant dick—“

 

“HEY!”

 

“Is that wrong expression?” Aleksis asked, all innocence.

 

“No, it’s not—“

 

“Then what is problem with description? I was not finished, also.” Aleksis turned back to Aurora. “Hansen junior, like I was saying, can be a giant dick. So can husband. I can be a really big bitch. You can be very annoying when you have gone days without sleep and drink too much coffee. But… the point of family and friends is they are there when you need them to support. We will be—We are always going to look at you as family and that is why we want you to come back. Right, Max?”

 

Max let out a loud bark in seeming confirmation, his tongue lolling happily out of his mouth at the head scratches he receives in reward.

 

“Really?”

  
“Of course, ya drongo.” Chuck immediately responded.

 

“Okay.”

 

“That’s our girl.” Sasha smiled, taking Aurora’s half-empty beer and quaffed the rest of it in one go. “Let us go home.”

 

With Sasha still carrying Max, Aleksis grabbed Aurora’s bags and Chuck kept a steadying hand on Aurora’s back as they left the bar.

 

“Little Hansen, you will be rewarding Max when we get back, yes?” Sasha asked as a cab is hailed.

 

“Of course I will.” Chuck sounded a little indignant and it made Aurora smile a bit as they all pile into the back.

 

Aurora curled up into Chuck’s side and he wrapped his arm around her, tugging her in a bit closer. Aurora can feel herself drifting off, a combination of feeling loved, feeling worn out after the events of the day and the alcohol.

 

Aurora made a little disgruntled noise at some point in their journey back to the Shatterdome when Chuck shifted her because his ringing phone is trapped between them. She sleepily flipped off Sasha and Aleksis who are chuckling at her.

 

“Fucking arseheads.” She sleepily mumbled. “Chuck tell yer dad to shaddup; he’s loud.”

 

“Yes, that was Rory. Yes, old man. Yes, we are on the way back. Oh, fuck off about that. We’ve only been AWOL for, like, five hours maximum. And don’t try and pull this bullshit with me, cuz you know damn well you would do the same thing if the Marshal was not Pentecost. Now, we are all in a taxi on the way back to the ‘dome – as I have already told you. See you in a few.” Chuck hung up on his dad and slipped his phone in his other pocket, grumbling under his breath about his father’s ‘mother hen’ tendencies and how he was a ‘grown ass man… don’t need him checking up on me like a fucking mom hen.’

 

“You are his co-pilot, and his son, he will always worry.” Aurora sagely mumbled.

 

“Go to sleep, Rory.” Chuck sniped without venom, as he chose to give Aurora’s hand a close inspection.

 

“Fuck off, koala bear.” Aurora fired the salvo, determined to get the last word in as she gets her hand out of Chuck’s and finally fell asleep.

 

“She’s lucky I love her like family.” Chuck said as the cab trundled up the street, the Shatterdome coming into view and quickly taking up much of the skyline.

 

A few minutes later saw them disembarking from the taxi outside the doors, Herc waiting outside, arms crossed on his chest and the look on his face best described as ‘grumpy.’

 

Chuck swung Aurora up into his arms, despite her protests that she can, in fact, walk.

 

“You need your bed and it’ll take you forever to walk there, silly woman.”

 

Chuck breezed by his dad with a blithe “Hello, father,” leaving Sasha and Aleksis to deal with his dad.

 

There aren’t many people about the corridors as Chuck made his way to the living quarters, something he’s happy for. A person or two that he ran into asked if Aurora is okay, but Chuck just makes a non-committal grunt and doesn’t stop to chat.

 

He managed, with little shifting of Aurora, to punch in the code for her door and get her in her room. Chuck placed Aurora in her bed with a gentleness that almost seemed at odds with his size and personality. Going for the first aid kit in the bathroom, he tended to the little wounds Aurora collected during her fight with Raleigh and wrapped her hand up in bandages (just to be safe) before pulling her shoes off and tucking her into bed.

 

“Hope your hangover doesn’t suck too much.” Chuck whispered, setting a glass of water on the desk next to the bed, before leaving and quietly shutting the door behind him.

 

He half-expected his dad to be waiting for him in the hall outside, waiting to ambush him even though their room isn’t that far down the hall from Aurora’s. That’s what he half-expected. He doesn’t expect to meet the Marshal.

 

“Sir.” Chuck said, standing to attention, bracing himself for a possible dressing down.

 

“Ranger Hansen. Is Officer Talmadge in her quarters?”

 

“She is, sir. But you should leave her be – She’s very... tired, sir. Also had a bit to drink and fell asleep on the way back.”

 

“Very well.” Pentecost turned to leave and Chuck headed in the opposite direction to his own quarters, stopping when Pentecost called out his name.

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“While your loyalty to your friend is admirable and indicates that there is hope for you, go AWOL again and there will be consequences.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Chuck seriously intoned before high-tailing it to his room as fast as he could get away with without it looking too unseemly.

 

Chuck found Max snoozing in his doggy bed next to Chuck’s bunk. Max woke up at the sound of the door opening.

 

“Good boy.” Chuck said, scratching Max under the chin just the way he likes before going to fetch the treat jar off the shelf above the desk. He tossed Max a couple before stripping down to his boxers and crawling into his bed, pretending to be asleep when his father came in.

 

Chuck slept for a few hours, rolling out of bed in the morning and he worked out in the gym and got a few laps in the indoor jogging track. Once Chuck is finished with the workout, he showered before heading right for the mess, dropping Max off at Aurora’s door with a firm command of “Guard this door, Max. Guard.”

 

Max barked at Chuck, making a few early morning stragglers wince. The bulldog planted his little butt on the top step and assumed such a fierce expression that Chuck has a hard time not laughing.

 

“That’s my boy.” Chuck praised, pulling his phone out and snapping a picture before heading out.

 

Chuck returned a few minutes later carrying a paper bag. Max perked right up, sniffing the air hopefully.

 

“Hang on, buddy.” Chuck said to Max, stepping over the bulldog. He rapped on the door, calling out Aurora’s name.

 


	12. Hangovers That Lead to Cuddles with Max and the Double Event

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much what it says on the tin for this chapter.

“C’mon, Rory, open up. It’s just me and Max. I bring you one of Ling’s BLT’s. It’s got extra bacon.” Chuck sang.

 

The door clanked as it was unlocked from the other side. Chuck let himself in, Max squeezing his way in the second there’s a gap big enough.

 

By the time Chuck got inside and got the light’s turned on, Max is hard at work on licking every inch of Aurora he can reach, nosing at her arm, making whiny ‘why are you sad?’ noises, the whole nine yards.

 

“I’m not hungry.” Aurora rasped.

 

“You had five and a half beers last night and then some; you have a hangover and your voice is raspy which I think means you’ve been throwing up. You might not be hungry, but you need to eat something. I got Ling to put extra bacon on your sandwich and I did it by asking. I tried to “people” as you put it the other day. Plus bacon seems to make everything just a little bit better.” Chuck babbled, just talking to talk, setting plates down on the desk and he started dishing food out.

 

“Chuck, thank you, really, but I am not in the mood for food.”

 

“I kinda figured that. I saw you last night – and I definitely heard you listing all the liquor you had managed to down – and it’s my turn to mother hen you like you do to me all the time. Try and eat at least half of the BLT and try not to let me catch you feeding Max the sandwich. C’mon, sit up.” Aurora pulled the blankets higher up on herself. “Max, make Rory sit up.”

 

And Max knew exactly what to do; he burrowed under the blanket and into Aurora’s side and nosed up her shirt. The second his nose touched her hip she’s sitting up with a yelp.

 

“That’s dirty.” Aurora glared at Chuck while Max clambered into her lap.

 

“You know damn well I will use my dog and play dirty if I have to.” Chuck grinned and handed a plate to Aurora before joining her on the bed.

 

Aurora put her plate on Max’s head, the first little ghost of a smile appearing on the corners of her mouth.

 

“Max is not stupid.” Chuck said around a mouthful. “He knows I don’t share my bacon. He also knows you need all the cuddles right now. Dogs know this shit, Aurora.”

 

“He also knows that I will gladly feed him.” Aurora said, blatantly ripping a piece of bacon off in front of Chuck and giving it to Max.

 

“Hey, eat some of that before you feed anymore to the glutton.” Chuck chided.

 

“Yes, _mom_.” Aurora sneered, but does take a bite of the sandwich. “Is this actual lettuce and tomato?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Wow.” Aurora drew the word out, giving the sandwich a slightly reverent look.

 

“So… can I mention something?”

 

“Does it have anything to do with yesterday?”

 

“Kinda. I did sorta tell you when we found you at the bar.”

 

“I don’t remember you telling me anything about after the fight. And the answer is no. Maybe later, but it’s…”

 

“Still too raw, I got it.”

 

Aurora, fighting nausea the first few minutes, ate most of the sandwich. Chuck kept a weather eye on her to ensure his adorable but gluttonous bulldog did not get most of the bacon.

 

“D’you wanna go for a walk?”

 

“Love to, but…” Aurora reached for her phone and checked the time. “I have to be on duty soon. And I would like to shower beforehand.”

 

“Oh, alright then. What time do you go on duty?”

 

“3. Until midnight.”

 

“Have fun with that.”

 

“Go fuck yourself, koala bear.” Aurora said, climbing off the bed and heading for the bathroom.

 

“I’m letting that one go because you sounded like you again.”

 

“Oh, you’re so generous, thank you.” Came the acerbic retort.

 

“Yeah, you’re welcome. I’ll catch you later.”

 

Aurora reported for duty at the appointed time to see Chuck reading from or looking over something on a tablet.

 

“He showed up 10 minutes before you did.” Tendo said when he caught sight of Aurora and where she’s looking. “It’s just as confusing to me too.”

 

“It’s not that confusing.” Aurora replied as Chuck continued to pointedly ignore them.

 

“It’s a little confusing.”

 

“He’s on either self-appointed protection detail or Sasha and Aleksis suggested protection detail.” Aurora explained, pulling out her chair.

 

“What? Why? Is it because of the fight between you and Becket yesterday?”

 

“In part.” Chuck said without looking up from his screen.

 

Tendo looked bewildered and shook his head, but he let the subject drop.

 

The afternoon slowly rolled on by and Chuck in an adorable if slightly childish display of affection stayed in LOCCENT with Aurora, leaving only 3 times. Two are brief sojourns outdoors for Max to go to the bathroom and the third is to go and get dinner. And it’s while he’s gone for dinner that Aurora caught Tendo staring.

 

“Just go ahead and ask, Choi.” Aurora said by way of permission.

 

“Why is Chuck Hansen spending his evening in LOCCENT and leaving his dog to “guard” you while he brings you dinner?”

 

“I believe he’s gone into super over-protective mode after yesterday. -Also, he might be playing a little bit of keep-away.”

 

“Does this have anything to do with rumours I’ve been hearing about you kicking Raleigh’s ass?”

 

“Maaaaybe.”

 

“I feel like there’s a huge part of that I’m missing.”

 

“Unless you’ve been filled in by Becket, there more than likely is.” Aurora kept her eyes glued to her monitor. “But, I am not the only person involved here and the details are not something I would like to see become fodder for the Shatterdome’s rumour mill – no offense.”

 

“None taken.” Tendo said, holding his hands up, palms out. “It’s a little like high school around here sometimes, I know.”

 

“’A little?’” Aurora quoted, her chuckle dark. “With the exception of Chuck and Mako, everyone in this building is over the age of 25 and we all act like this place is high school. Take a look around the next time you go in the mess at mealtime.”

 

It’s the next day that shit epically hit the fan. Aurora has just pulled on her boots, getting ready for a shift, when the kaiju alarm sounded.

 

“Well, shit.” Aurora said, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail as she ran out of her room and headed straight to LOCCENT, moving and weaving through the people scrambling in the hall.

 

Pentecost and Tendo are already there and it isn’t long before the pilots – suited up and ready to go – filtered in.

 

Chuck found Aurora in the mass of personnel just as Stacker began to outline the battle plan. They stand together, hands occasionally brushing through natural movement until Aurora hooked their pinky’s together.

 

“Breach was exposed at twenty three hundred hours. We have two signatures, both category 4, which means, Otachi and Leatherback. They'll reach Hong Kong within the hour.” Tendo briefed the assembled.

  
“Evacuate the city, shut down the bridges, I want every single civilian in a refuge right now. Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha, I want you to front line the harbor. Stay on the miracle mile. Striker, I want you to stay back, look after the coastline. We cannot afford to lose you, so only engage as a final option.” Stacker ordered.

  
“Yes, sir.” Chuck and Herc say in tandem.

 

Stacker turned to Raleigh and Mako. ”You two, you stay put.” He shifted his body back toward everyone else. “Let’s go!”

 

As the pilots prepared to leave, Chuck gave Aurora’s hand a quick, hard squeeze. Aleksis and Sasha are a bit more… public.

 

Sasha picked Aurora up in a rib-squishing bear hug that has her feet kicking for purchase in the air.

 

“Sasha, you… are going… to crush me… to death.” Aurora wheezed. Sasha had the grace to look a little sheepish but still grinned as he set Aurora back on her feet, keeping a heavy arm around her shoulder.

 

“YA nakhozhu odin volos iz mesta na golove Avrory , kogda my vernemsya , i posledstviya , vy podonki shar kusok musora , budet naiboleye ... ser'yeznym.” Alexis murmured – her tone the most creepy, scary Russian stereotype/ her own threatening scary self, magnified that Aurora’s ever heard from her. And having seen varying degrees of an angry Aleksis and Sasha, Aurora can safely put a finger on which of the Kaidonovsky’s is scarier.

 

“Uhhhh… okay…” Raleigh’s 100% wary of this whole moment, leaning away from Sasha as much as he can, even while she is getting up in his personal space.

 

“Come on, wife. Kaiju will not wait for long.” Aleksis said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“What did she just say to me?” Raleigh asked Tendo as battle stations are assumed.

 

“I have no idea; my Russian is god-awful.”

 

Aurora felt Raleigh’s eyes on the back of her head. And then there’s a whispered fight going on that sounds rather like “I’m not gonna ask, you ask” and so on.

 

It goes on until Pentecost let out a long-suffering sigh. “Officer Talmadge, could you please translate Lieutenant Kaidonovsky’s threat to Ranger Becket.”

 

“To paraphrase and summarise: Lay one fingernail on me and you had best sleep with one eye open and possibly a gun under your pillow. Or a knife. Or a bike chain.” Aurora pulled on a headset to put an end to the conversation.

 

Doing her job, Aurora focused on the instruments in front of her, making the occasional remark to Tendo or listening to something being said to her. When each of the three jaegers makes it to their positions, she passed the confirmation on to Tendo.

 

The evening does not get any better from there. The two category IV, codenamed Otachi and Leatherback, were… Aurora later said in private that there weren’t the words to describe how brutal, but how efficient, the two were.

 

And sitting there, it’s almost a relief to hear Chuck and Herc arguing with Pentecost about going to Cherno’s and Crimson’s aid.

 

Aurora silently cheered when Chuck and Herc take Striker and try their damndest to get to Cherno Alpha in time – even if it meant that Otachi was able to get into Hong Kong.

 

“The reactor is leaking into the conn-pod!” Sasha yelled, in Russian, as Striker Eureka took on Leatherback by themselves.

 

Aurora pushed herself over, yanked the microphone out of Tendo’s hand and hit the button on the microphone.

 

“Mozhete li vy kak vidite siniy pereklyuchatel’ na vashikh konsoley?”

 

“Da.” Sasha grunted.

 

“Za lyubov’k Bogu, vy oba udaril yego!” Aurora all but yelled, looking to her machines and monitors trying to gauge the situation as the seconds ticked by.

 

“Sasha? Aleksis?”

 

“My… My na nashikh nogakh.” Aleksis’ stunned voice is music to Aurora’s ears, relief making her sag heavily against Tendo.

 

“Po krayney mere, yesli my umrem , eto ne budet v rezul'tate utopleniya . Zhena nenavidit ideyu utonut'.” Sasha said next, trying to sound… light.

 

“Cherno Alpha is back on their feet, but there’s still water in it and the reactor is leaking into the conn-pod, sir.” Aurora relayed to Stacker as she relinquished control of the mic back to Tendo.

 

“Cherno Alpha a med team has been mobilized and will meet you in jaeger bay five. Striker Eureka, you need to draw Leatherback away from Cherno—“

 

At that moment, that is when some major, major shit goes down. A wave of electromagnetic energy flew through, coming from the Pacific and LOCCENT went dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Google Translate because my Russian extends solely to the words 'spasibo,' 'nyet,' and 'vodka,' so, please forgive me if anyone spots an egregious error. And, of course, let me know.
> 
> \-------
> 
> YA nakhozhu odin volos iz mesta na golove Avrory , kogda my vernemsya , i posledstviya , vy podonki shar kusok musora , budet naiboleye ... ser'yeznym. -- I find one hair out of place on Aurora’s head when we return, and the consequences, you scumball piece of trash, will be most… severe.
> 
> Mozhete li vy kak vidite siniy pereklyuchatel’ na vashikh konsoley -- Can you see the blue switch on your console?
> 
> Za lyubov’k Bogu, vy oba udaril yego -- For the love of god, both of you hit it!
> 
> My… My na nashikh nogakh -- We... We are on our feet.
> 
> Po krayney mere, yesli my umrem , eto ne budet v rezul'tate utopleniya . Zhena nenavidit ideyu utonut'. -- At least if we die, it won't be by drowning. Wife hates idea of drowning.


	13. Mad Scramble, Radiation Exposure, Talks with Medical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the damage done to Cherno Alpha and her pilots and Crimson Typhoon is discussed.

“FUCK!” Aurora cursed, ripping the headset off and rubbing her ears; there’s a similar situation occurring in a few spots in the room.

 

Pentecost is demanding to know what is going on as Aurora threw herself under the table, pulling off the access panel located there.

 

She’s yanking out what are definitely fried wires as Tendo told Pentecost that an EMP wave took out LOCCENT and all communications and Striker Eureka is sitting dead in the water and that it’ll take at least 2 hours just to re-wire LOCCENT to get the auxiliary power going.

 

“Can someone hand me the wire cutter and the stripper sitting on the console above me?” Aurora called out, someone handing her said items quickly. “I’m working on re-establishing contact with Cherno Alpha, Marshal, since she’s not a digital model.” Aurora grunted, yanking on a wire.

 

And out of everything Raleigh may be, thank God being dense usually is not one of them. In the next moment he’s stepping forward to point out to Pentecost that they still have Gipsy, that the jaeger is analog and nuclear.

 

Everything stopped for the space of several tense heart beats as _everyone_ waited to see how Pentecost will respond.

 

“Go get suited up.” Pentecost finally said.

 

The work picked back up, kicking into high gear as someone from God-only-knew where had dug up some old handheld, short range radios.

 

Pentecost had grabbed the first one and re-relayed to Sasha and Aleksis to head for jaeger bay five – the closest to the ocean and the only closed off jaeger bay – and that a med-team would be waiting for them and they were to head for the Shatterdome the second the coast was clear.

 

“Understood, Marshal, sir.” Aleksis responded.

 

“We are heading for ‘dome.” Sasha’s voice came crackling through a few minutes later. “Gipsy is beating crap out of Leatherback.”

 

“We see Crimson Typhoon. Should we pick up conn-pod?” Aleksis wanted to know.

 

“No.” Pentecost decided. “The acid will have compromised the structural integrity of Cherno Alpha. You need to get back to the Shatterdome as fast, but as safely as you can. Choppers and search and rescue will be dispatched as soon as possible.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“Talmadge, go. And tell the Jumphawk teams to be ready to mount an S&R the moment the all clear is given.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Aurora ran as fast as her legs will carry her, stopping only long enough to tell the chopper crews left to be on standby for an S&R.

 

She slipped into the jaeger bay to hear Sasha arguing about getting into the radiation bags.

 

“Sasha!” Aurora shouted, her voice cracking like a whip in the echoing silence of the bay. The Russian looked in her direction with a start. “No one likes the radiation bags but, please, just get in the damn thing.”

 

“Alright, then.” Sasha thankfully acquiesced, climbing into the radiation bag (which is more really a clear plastic tent) without further argument.

 

“Any word on the Wei Tang triplets?” Sasha asked when the med-team allowed Aurora closer.

 

“No. Jumphawks are on stand-by for search and rescue.”

 

“Officer Talmadge, we need to you to follow so we can test you as a precaution; because you’ve been in the same area as exposed persons.”

 

“Do I have to climb into a body bag?”

 

“They are radiation protection bags, not body bags.” The medical officer said with all the exasperation of one who frequently has to repeat that the radiation bags are not, in point of fact, body bags. Much as they feel like them. Everyone _hated_ that particular drill.

 

“Tomato, tomato.” Aurora mildly argued as another of the med-team brandished a hazmat suit at Aurora as the stretchers carrying Aleksis and Sasha are borne out of the jaeger bay.

 

“It’s more tomato, potato.” Medical Officer Jansk (Aurora suddenly remembered) complained as Aurora got into the hazmat suit. The gloves and booties and hood are quick to follow and quick to be duct-taped into place. At least they don’t make her sit on a gurney, Aurora reflected as she walked to the medical bay. Though being in a hazmat suit does have a drawback.

 

Said drawback being inspiring confusion and a slight panic in those who know you seeing you in a hazmat suit.

 

Three of Cherno Alpha’s crew recoil and ask repeatedly what’s wrong with Aurora, and what’s happened to Sasha and Aleksis. Aurora is more than happy to explain that both Sasha and Aleksis are currently being seen to and getting the best possible treatment. The best reaction though is saved for Chuck, who positively _squawked_ when he caught Aurora walking by a room in the medical wing.

 

“What the fuck did you do?!” Chuck screeched, hanging out of the door as Aurora walked by.

 

“I went into the jaeger bay; it’s just a precaution, Chuck, don’t worry I’ll be fine.”

 

“Fine?! You’re duct taped into a fucking hazmat suit!!”

 

Aurora doesn’t really get a chance to respond because she’s pulled into one of the isolation rooms. They take her clothes – all of them – off to be burned with the hazmat suit, leaving her in just a hospital gown on a gurney. She’s shivering a bit sitting on that gurney – the room is a little cold and she’s only got on a thin hospital gown. They didn’t even give her a pair of those ugly slipper socks. She’s left to twiddle her thumbs and amuse herself after samples are taken off to be tested.

 

Aurora looked up when she hears the airlock on the second door as it de-pressurized. It’s one of the doctor’s in a hazmat suit bearing a tablet.

 

“What’s the verdict?”

 

“You’re good. You didn’t get close to Ranger Kaidonovsky and Ranger Kaidonovsky until they were already in the radiation bags.” The doctor said, removing the hood of their suit, revealing it to be one Medical Officer Jackson.

 

“So, I’m free to go?”

 

“Yes, you are. Clean bill of health and all that.”

 

“Uh… how am I supposed to get out of here when you guys took my clothes off to be burned?”

 

Jackson grinned. “Ranger Hansen the younger solved that problem for you. He’s waiting outside with some clothing he got from your room.”

  
“Ah.” Aurora said as Jackson hit a button on the wall by the door. The airlocks released and Chuck came in brandishing a bag.

 

“I touched your underwear for you.” Chuck says melodramatically, making Aurora outright laugh and Officer Jackson chuckle as he beat a hasty retreat.

 

“I’m touched.” Aurora joked as she took the bag and goes into the small attached bathroom to get dressed. Chuck had grabbed a Henley of hers, some jeans, a bra and pair of knickers and her favorite pair of combat boots. Aurora felt an almost instant pick up in her body’s warmth levels as she pulled on layers.

 

“They didn’t give me any socks.” Aurora bitched as she rejoined Chuck and they head for the exit. “I wanna go see Sasha and Aleksis before leaving medical. What were you doing down here?”

 

“Old man. Decided to disengage from the harness right as Leatherback punched Striker’s head. Well, it was more an exploratory tap, but it sent the old man flying anyway. He broke his arm.”

 

“Well isn’t that delightful.” Aurora says bitingly. “What the hell are we supposed to do now? We’re down to Gipsy. Gipsy fucking Danger.”

 

“Well, I was kinda hoping Pentecost would agree to letting you and me co-pilot Striker. I’m thinking we can hold it together long enough to get down to the Breach, toss the bomb in and book it for shore.”

 

“Yeah, but, I’ve never been in a jaeger, Chuck.”

 

“True.” Chuck hedged. “But both you and I know you should be in one. That it _should_ have been us piloting Striker the last five years. Not me and my old man.”

 

“You realize that there’s a chance even if I was without issues that you might’ve ended up with your dad anyway? I mean, Christ, Striker Eureka was the first Mark V if I was in charge I wouldn’t be exactly thrilled at the prospect of two rookies driving her.” Aurora rationalized as they pushed through the double doors and headed toward the isolation ward.

 

“You two cannot be back here.” One brave nurse stepped up from the station, trying to bar Aurora and Chuck’s way.

 

“Like hell I cannot be back here. I’m in no bloody move to be fobbed off by you. We’re here to see Lieutenant Kaidonovsky and Lieutenant Kaidonovsky and see how they’re doing. And so help me, if the next words out of your mouth are some sort of ‘You’re not family I can’t tell you’ bullshit, I will have you know that I am listed as their secondary medical contact as they are listed as mine.”

 

“Name?” The nurse blandly asked while Chuck glowered at her.

 

“Talmadge, Aurora.” Aurora spat out.

 

The nurse goes back behind the counter and hit a couple of keys on the computer.

 

“Yes, there you are. Apologies, Officer Talmadge. It’s a poor excuse, but things have been a bit nuts around here the last hour or so. In addition to the Kaidonovsky’s the Wei Tang brothers were found and brought in not an hour ago.”

 

“You can apologize by telling us how they are.” Chuck cut in.

 

“They’re in rough shape. Ranger Jin Wei has shrapnel from his drivesuit embedded from his left shoulder down to his hip – he’s in surgery now. Ranger Cheung Wei is also in surgery with broken bones and internal bleeding, I don’t know the full extent of his injuries. Ranger Hu Wei has perhaps gotten off the easiest. He has a concussion, all three of them do, a broken left leg, his right ankle is broken, his right wrist is fractured, a couple of bruised organs and all three of them have more scratches, cuts and bruises then you can shake a stick at.”

 

“And Aleksis and Sasha?”

 

“Both of them are already showing signs of radiation sickness. Lieutenant Kaidonovsky has thrown up once already –“

 

“Which one?”

 

“Apologies. Sasha has thrown up once and Aleksis is experiencing what she is calling ‘worse than once a month’ nausea. Doctor Gullbrandsen estimates that the both of them suffered mild exposure since the first signs of nausea did not present until about an hour ago – and that was around 5 hours after the reactor on Cherno Alpha was damaged and began to leak. Doctor Gullbrandsen could give you more detail on this.”

  
“I would like to speak to him, yes. May I go and see them?”

 

“Yes, of course. I’ll show you to the viewing window – there’s a little comm that you can use to communicate.”

 

The nurse showed them into this little room with a big two-way sheet of glass comprising half of the wall. Sasha and Aleksis were in separate beds, Sasha with a trashcan between his legs, but they were both sitting up and awake.

 

Aurora pressed the button on the wall and leant into the speaker. “How are you guys doing?”

 

“I will never complain about being on my period ever again.” Aleksis groaned, hands on her stomach, gently rubbing slow opposing circles.

 

“I will never dismiss again, dismiss Aleks when she says her cramps hurt.” Sasha mumbled, dry heaving into the bucket. “Also, I do not want my hair to fall out.”

 

“Sasha Kaidonovsky, you will be a scary badass with or without hair.”

 

“I think he’d be scarier without hair.” Chuck mumbled.

 

“Who is that? Is that the little koala Hansen?” Sasha asked, looking to the window.

 

“Yeah,” Aurora replied as Chuck moves into view to give a wave. “He brought me some clothes when they let me out of my own iso room.”

 

“They put you in isolation? Why were you not put with us? Less boring that way.” Aleksis said, leaning over to lovingly pet her husband’s head as he is throwing up again.

 

“It was a precaution. I didn’t get close enough to you two to put me at risk. But they burned my clothes anyway. I can imitate Chuck when he told me that he had to touch my underwear if you think that’ll help alleviate the boredom.”

 

“Please, don’t.” Chuck half-begged.

 

The door opened and in stepped a tall gentleman, Scandinavian in look with a head of short-cropped dark hair.

 

“I am Doctor Gullbrandsen. You are Officer Talmadge?”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

“Apologies; with the Wei’s and Kaidonovsky’s being brought in one on top of the other, things have been rather crazy in medical. And given their conscious state, do you have the permission of the Kaidonovsky’s to discuss their health?”

 

Aurora hit the button for the comm. “Aleksis, Sasha, do I have your permission to discuss your medical issues with Doctor Gullbrandsen?”

 

“Of course. We do not mind.” Sasha said.

 

“Good, good.”

 

“Now, how high do you think the exposure went?” Aurora asked.

 

Doctor Gullbrandsen looked at Chuck, who got the hint. “I’ll be in the mess, getting something for the old man.” He excused himself and left.

 

“I believe the Kaidonovsky’s received only mild exposure – 1 gray or 2 grays at the most. And given Cherno Alpha’s age, they got extraordinarily lucky. They’ll be confined to isolation, of course, for the next week or two at least while we treat them for radiation sickness.”

 

“Any chance of either of them losing their hair? Sasha was worried it might happen.”

 

“Like I said, the dosage was mild, so I think it unlikely that either of them will lose any hair. And at worst, if they do, it will be small and localized. But I am confident that with immediate treatment, the fact they’ve both been on Metharocin for a decade, and their own immune systems, that they will suffer no long term ill-effects from the reactor in Cherno Alpha.”

 

“And will they need to, say, have any surgery?”

 

“No. Of course they will be regularly monitored, but the rangers were not tossed around the way Crimson Typhoon was.”

 

“Thank you, Doctor Gullbrandsen. It’s good to know that they’ll be alright.”

 

“I understand. I myself served in Vladivostok for a few months several years ago. I remember the three of you back then and I understand you wishing to know how your friends were doing and how they would be doing in the future.”

 

The door opened just then and a nurse poked her head in. “Officer Talmadge, I don’t know if you heard just now, but your name was being called over the public address.”

  
“No, I hadn’t heard. Whatever for?”

 

“It was something about Marshal Pentecost asking you to report to his office.”

 

Aurora nodded. “Thank you.” She turned away and hit the button. “Sasha, Aleksis, I gotta go – I’ve been summoned.”

 

“Summoned where?” Aleksis wanted to know.

 

“Pentecost wants to see me, I guess. I’ll come back and see you guys later. Try not to piss the nurses off too much, Aleksis.”

 

“Hey!”

 

Aurora walked out of the infirmary smiling, trying to keep her spirits up by keeping in mind Doctor Gullbrandsen’s information that Aleksis and Sasha had suffered only mild radiation exposure.

 


	14. Summons Answered, Technical Difficulty Conquered and Sydney 2.0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora finally gets to jockey a jaeger.

She walked swiftly, arriving and knocking firmly on Pentecost’s office door in only a few minutes.

  
“Enter.”

 

Aurora does as bid. “You paged me, sir?”

 

Pentecost looked up from his desk. “Ah, Officer Talmadge, thank you for coming. Have a seat.”

 

“What’s this about, Marshal?”

 

“Talmadge… Aurora… I wish to apologize for… the other day. I did not mean to trivialize your… situation with Ranger Becket and call such a tragedy a petty argument. It was not my intention in the slightest and I am deeply sorry over how that played out.”

  
Aurora nodded and sat there for a moment, gathering her words. Frankly, she’s rather shocked that Pentecost was apologizing, but she is also very appreciative of him making the effort to apologize to her.

 

“Thank you, Marshal. I appreciate your apologizing to me. And I would like to apologize too for… y’know, flipping you off.”

 

Pentecost nodded. “I accept your apology as well. And you needn’t worry about your going UA for a few hours making it into your records.”

 

“And Chuck, Aleksis and Sasha?”

 

“No marks in their records either.”

 

“Thank you, sir. Permission to be dismissed? I want to go see if Tendo needs any help in rewiring LOCCENT.”

 

“Permission granted.”

 

Aurora headed up to LOCCENT, where work to re-wire the place is already well under way, the breach monitoring systems already up and running, and jumped right in, getting to work on removing all the fried wires and such from her own station. LOCCENT is a hive of activity for different reasons for the rest of the day, all of them barely stop to eat or drink much of anything and only stopping for dinner when trolleys bearing food (the golden rule of no meals – snacks are allowed, but not full on meals – is broken) are wheeled in on orders from the Marshal. It’s almost dawn by the time they have LOCCENT back up and running at pre-Double Event levels and Tendo ordered everyone but a skeleton staff to go and get some rest.

 

Aurora weaved her way back to her quarters, feeling half-drunk with tiredness. Dropping into her bunk and barely stopping to toe off her shoes, she slept like the dead until early afternoon, when pounding on her door roused her from the depths of sleep. Shuffling and yawning to the door, she opened it and blinked against the light from the corridor.

 

“Hey, Herc. Why…” Aurora stopped to let out a great big yawn, “Why are you here?”

 

“Stacks sent me to get you – he wants you to get suited up to run a drift test with you and Chuck. We’re making the run on the breach day after tomorrow.”

 

“Oh. Just… I’ll go and get some clean clothes on and brush my teeth. I won’t be five minutes.”

 

“No problem.”

 

Aurora shut the door and yanked her clothes off, exchanging them for fresh ones before brushing her teeth while pulling her boots on.

 

“Lead the way.” Aurora said when she emerges from her room, hair already up in a ponytail.

 

“Here, breakfast.” Herc said, handing Aurora a bag and a paper cup of coffee. “Choi said it’s likely you hadn’t eaten since dinner last night.”

 

“Thanks.” Aurora gratefully took the coffee and bag, tearing into the egg and ham and cheese sandwich. “I’m sorry about your collarbone.”

 

Herc briefly glanced down at the sling before looking back up. “Thanks. ‘M not happy about this.”

 

“No, I don’t imagine you would be. This could be Sydney all over again. And it also shows how desperate the situation is if Pentecost is willing to send a wash out out in a jaeger with a 2400 pound bomb strapped to its back.”

 

“He’s hoping having already been in his head once, and his drifting with a Mark 1 pilot – aka me – means things’ll go better this time. He’d go himself with Chuck if you weren’t here, and closer to Chuck in age, even though getting into a jaeger again would mean his death.”

 

“I knew he got fucked up by Coyote, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

 

Herc grimaced. “Yeah. And no one’s supposed to know that. Damn pain pills. I told medical I shouldn’t be taking them.”

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, Herc.”

 

“I appreciate that. Stacks…”

 

“Can’t let anyone know because he’s the “Marshal.” I get it. I do. He’s the head of the ‘dome and he can’t afford to let anyone see him as anything other than strong, as the wall the kaiju can’t break down. Anything less and the whole thing falls apart.”

 

“That’s… perspicacious.”

 

Aurora smiled. “I grew up with and later dated a man who was the head of his motorcycle club; the bones are much the same. He couldn’t afford to appear weak, to appear soft, show any emotion that wasn’t harsh and unforgiving.”

 

“You… dated a biker?” Herc’s baffled tone is amusing.

 

“It takes all sorts. And… for a time we made each other happy.”

 

“That is so bizarre.”

 

“What? That I dated a biker?”

 

“No. I’m trying to picture Becket as a biker and I can’t.”

 

“I never said it was Becket.” Aurora is quick to say. Perhaps too quick.

 

Herc snorted. “You two are around the same age, came from the same town and, of course, that you two were, for however long a period, engaged. Engaged is the next level of dating. But it’s still dating.”

 

“I still never said it was Becket. You’re just assuming it was Becket because of my breakdown in the hallway after I kicked his ass.”

 

“I’m right though, aren’t I?”

 

“No, you’re not.”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

“No, you’re not.”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

“Herc, remind me again – are you 44 or 4?”

 

“I’m old enough to kick your ass if you mention my age again. With or without a broken collarbone.” Herc grumbled.

 

“That response makes no sense on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it reveals I hit a nerve.” Aurora needled, stopping in the hallway and grabbing Herc’s good arm to make him stop. “Look, Herc, as stated before: I get it. He’s your only child, the only family left besides your parents, and if this drift test works out it’ll be me going 7 miles down to Challenger Deep with Chuck, not you. You’re terrified for your son and I’m going to guess at some point you’ve had the thought that if Striker goes down, you’d rather it be the two of you in it, going together. I’m not going to let that happen. I promise you right now, I will kick his ass out of Striker if I have to.”

 

“It’s the white, round button on the side of the panel closest to the wall in the left harness.” Herc immediately offered up, his voice even grumblier and gruffer than normal.

 

Aurora hesitated a moment before putting her arm around Herc in an awkward side hug.

 

“C’mon, let’s get in there before someone comes out here and sees the famous Herc Hansen having emotionssss.” Aurora dramatically whispered.

 

“Fuck off.” Herc chuckled, shoving Aurora towards the door –

 

And straight into the Marshal, who had just come out of said door.

 

“Sorry, Marshal, sir. It was Herc’s fault. He pushed me.”

 

“Oi, who’s acting the child now?” Herc rejoindered as Aurora tripped her way into the room and the drive suit techs hands.

 

“I’m ¾ your age, I can get away with it!” She yelled over her shoulder, aiming for one last dig.

 

“No, you can’t!”

 

Aurora would have liked to have replied but at that point a rather exasperated looking Pentecost had reached for the door and shut it and Aurora was in the hands of the techs.

 

Aurora knew it took a while to get into the suits; she has memories of Sasha and Aleksis and Eden Assassin’s pilots grumping and moaning after a fight about how long it took to get into the suits when all they wanted to do was get out there and kill a kaiju.

 

The first fifteen minutes was spent with the techs figuring out how much they needed to amp up the drive suit conductivity so the electric impulses between her body and the suit could get through the thick (in many places) scar tissue and be conveyed to the jaeger.

 

Aurora felt incredibly awkward and exposed, standing there in the sports bra and briefs all the female pilots wore under the suits; conventional undergarments were too thick and clunky, one of the techs had explained.

 

“No wonder Sasha would never tell me what the undergarments were like; I feel practically exposed.” Aurora half-whispered to herself, plucking at the waistband of the underwear.

 

“All the first time pilots felt very insecure in these undergarments,” One of the older techs reassured Aurora as she was helped into the suit. “The stories I could tell… I used to be stationed at the Icebox – lift your left foot for me, thanks – and I was there the first time the Becket boys suited up. Yancy was calm and casual as can be, joking and laughing with the other techs in the room, while his brother stood there with his legs pressed together so hard you’d think he was trying to fuse them together while his hands are clasping each other and trying to hide… well… himself, really, if you get my meaning.”

 

And if that mental image doesn’t make Aurora laugh – well, let’s just say she almost fell over and came dangerously close to ripping her suit.

 

Thankfully, Aurora experienced no further misadventure and is secured into the drive suit and stood there, thinking she must look a bit like the Vitruvian Man as she held still as the pieces of body armor are strapped on.

 

“There. All done and my, my, my, don’t you look a proper pilot. Ranger Hansen’s probably waiting for you by Striker Eureka. The quickest way is out this door, take a right, then a left and another left and you’re at the jaegers.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Aurora left the room and pulled up short at a flash of light; blinking a few times she managed to glower at one of Cherno’s crew – Anna, one of the longtime mechanics.

 

“Sasha and Aleksis found out you were doing dry run with Hansen – they wanted a picture of you in full Ranger get up.”

 

“Complete with idiotic look of surprise and confusion on my face – should be good for a giggle for them.” Aurora joked. “Walk with me to the jaegers?”

 

Anna smiled and did a little bow. “It would be my honor, _Ranger_ Talmadge.”

 

“Oh, hush, you.” Aurora blushed, shoving at the smiling mechanic.

 

Pentecost and Herc are standing a few feet from Chuck, who’s fidgeting nervously near the hatch, already in his own drivesuit.

 

“You aren’t actually nervous, are you, Chuck? After all, this can’t go any worse than the first time we tried this.”

 

“I am not nervous. But the drivesuit suits you. You make the clunky look good.”

 

“Oh, you sweet talker.” Aurora joked, smacking the breast plate of Chuck’s armor. “Shall we?”

 

“Ladies first.” Chuck says with a wave of his arm.

 

“Huh. Maybe there’s hope for you yet.” Aurora mused as she starts to climb into the conn-pod.

 

“Oh, fuck off.”

 

“Aaaaand there he is!”

 

“Settle down, you two – this is serious.”

 

“Aye, aye, Marshal, sir!” Aurora popped off a sassy salute before dropping the rest of the way into Striker’s conn-pod.

 

“And how did that feel?” Chuck asked as he climbs down the rungs of the ladder.

 

“You will tell _no one_ that I landed on my ass, Chuck. No. One.”

 

“Of course not.” Chuck snorted as he hauled himself into the right hand harness and Aurora the left.

 

They both stand there as the techs move in and get them properly plugged in and connected. Aurora has her eyes closed for most of it, meditating and breathing evenly and focusing on that to center herself.

 

She had thought this was never going to happen. The traumas of her past had built what felt like an unbreakable wall in her head that had rendered her useless to co-pilot a jaeger. But it was said within the PPDC and the ‘domes that first generation pilots could drift with just about anyone and Chuck had been drifting with a first gen. pilot for the last five years. This, and their previous experience in drifting, was a little tiny seed of hope that Aurora nurtured in her mind as the final touches were prepared and the techs departed from the conn-pod and they were left alone.

 

“Okay, boy and lady, are we ready to get this test run started?” Tendo’s voice floated in through the mics in their helmets, cheerful as ever and not as if he’s just spent much of the last 24 hours awake and working his fingers to the bone along with the rest of LOCCENT to get the command center up and running again.

 

“We are strapped in and ready to go.” Chuck confirmed.

 

“Alright. The Marshal wants to do this a bit different then Raleigh and Mako’s test run, so just sit tight and wait for the jumphawks to drop you off at the ten mile marker.”

 

“Copy that, LOCCENT.” Chuck said again. He took his hand off the transmit button and looks over. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Nervous. But calm. And a little bit of desperation?”

 

“So just like a pilot in the final days of this godforsaken war, then.” Chuck lamely joked as the whup-whup-whup noise of 8 jumphawks flying into place faintly bleeds into the conn-pod along with the dull ‘thunk’ of the magnets connecting to the necessary points on Striker Eureka’s shoulders reverberated through.

 

“Here we go.” Aurora quietly said, half to herself as they watch through Striker’s visor as they are lifted out of the Shatterdome and fly out over the water.

 

It is an exhilarating feeling, knowing that this is not is a simulation. Knowing that she really is being carried in a jaeger over the actual Pacific Ocean and is about to do her first run in a real jaeger, it is a thrilling, exhilarating, terrifying and grounding thought.

 

“Brace for release in 3…2…1…”

 

Aurora braced as Chuck does and it does not phase her when Striker landed in water that is almost knee high on the jaeger.

 

“Alright, Chuck and Aurora I am initiating the drift right… now.”

 

If someone were to ask Aurora what does it feel like to enter the drift with another person and see the rush of memories flying by, the best she could equate to would be a slightly nauseating roller coaster ride combined with a person’s first time at an IMAX theater. Aurora almost laughed as a memory whipped by her and she heard Herc’s voice going “Breathe in through your nose, son, and out through your mouth.” With Chuck’s voice now underneath that, echoing the same words.

 

Aurora blinked as she opened her eyes, not realizing she’d closed them. And… there is no real way to describe the feeling of feeling Chuck in her head and looking to her right and seeing him there too.

 

“Alright, Striker Eureka, the neural handshake has taken and your drift is holding pretty damn steady.” Tendo informed them – Aurora can’t help the small grin of triumph at that one.

 

“We’re already doing better than Sydney.” Chuck smirked as he and Aurora lifted Striker’s arms and wriggle their fingers and watch Striker’s own fingers wriggle in front of the visor.

 

 _God bless first generation pilots,_ Aurora thought and Chuck nodded in agreement.

 

“Striker, we need to see how long you two can hold it together, so take it easy.” Pentecost instructed. “And try moving about.”

 

“Yes, sir, Marshal.” Aurora replied this time.

 

That same giddy feeling of exhilaration that had risen when Aurora had watched herself and Chuck moving Striker Eureka returned as they covered a couple miles of walking (or swimming, at any rate) in just a few seconds.

 

“Alright, let’s try running.” Chuck decided and Aurora nodded.

 

So, they run parallel to the imaginary line that marks 10 miles out from Victoria Harbor’s entrance and they stop smoothly too, with a flourish of a whirl that has the sea frothing and slapping against the jaeger’s legs.

 

“LOCCENT, how are we holding up?” Chuck inquired after the flourishing whirl.

 

“You’re… doing surprisingly well and the drift is still holding together—“

 

“The pair of you have already held together longer then you did in Sydney, you’re doing great.” Herc butted in and Aurora can both feel and see the surprise on Chuck’s face at his father’s unexpected praise and then the _pleasure_ of being praised by his notoriously gruff and taciturn father in front of many other people.

 

That moment of thinking that maybe not all hope was lost for Chuck and his dad to have a fairly normal relationship after the war is short-lived because Tendo is suddenly in their ears, all grim and all business.

 


	15. The Test Run That Went to Hell and Then Some

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much what it says on the tin.

“Striker Eureka, it looks like this test run is about to get a bit more… practical. The instruments around the Breach have registered an exposure. One signature, a category four and it is moving fast.”

 

“How soon will it be here?” Chuck asked, already in full on battle mode.

 

“Inside of the hour.” Tendo informed them. “It’s fast moving. Very fast.”

 

“Does it have a name?”

 

“Tisane. This one is codenamed Tisane.”

 

“Pull back two miles to the mouth of the harbor, Striker Eureka. Gipsy Danger will be out there shortly.”

 

“Belay that! And if you won’t, tell them to hold back and protect the harbor when they get out there. We need to test out this new pilot configuration and get Aurora used to fighting in a jaeger before we have to do it under the ocean.” Chuck shot back in a hard voice Aurora’s never heard him use before.

 

“Very well. Gipsy Danger will be held in reserve. But if I think there’s any chance whatsoever—“

 

“We promise we’ll be the first to shout, Marshal Pentecost.” Aurora assured him.

 

“I will hold you both to that.”

 

“Understood, sir.” Aurora and Chuck replied in tandem, as they began moving to intercept the incoming Tisane.

 

“Chuck?”

 

“Yeah, ‘Rora?”

 

“All of Striker’s missiles are in the chest, yes?”

 

“Yeah.” Chuck says with certainty. Before double-checking on his panel. “Yeah. We’ve got all eighteen.”

 

“Good.” Aurora grunted as Striker starts to gain momentum.

 

Aurora is more than a little bit terrified. But fairly screaming through her veins right alongside the terror is the exhilarating rush of adrenaline.

 

This kaiju, this Tisane is a big but rather lithe kaiju with four arms and covered in dark vine-y growths over its entire body. It bursts out of the water only 50 yards ahead of them and flying straight at Striker Eureka’s head.

 

But Chuck and Aurora are ready for this, rolling on their shoulder and kicking the kaiju in the back and following that up with a combination of punches that would do a boxer proud as it turned, landing one jab in its mouth with such force that some of its teeth – fangs? – are snapped off.

 

Tisane roared, equal parts pain and rage, and aimed a few jabs of its own, Aurora and Chuck block and deflect, grunting with the effort of ignoring the feel of the hits being relayed to their own shoulders from Striker.

 

“Block!” Chuck called out as Tisane made another attempt at Striker’s head. They block the main brunt of this attack, but one of its slippery smaller hands makes it in and tried ripping at the metal covering the missile launchers in Striker’s chest.

 

“Go the fuck away!” Aurora growled in what she thinks is under her breath as they break free and grab Tisane and chuck it a couple hundred yards toward deeper waters.

 

“You realize this is a kaiju we’re fighting, right? And not your asshole ex?”

  
“Oh like you were so smooth in your first fight.” Aurora snarked back.

 

And then the fight went to hell.

 

The pair of them had been fighting well, fighting as one unit instead of two individuals, delivering much more devastation and, frankly, dismemberment then Tisane has managed to land on them. Of course, it’s not like this fight has gone entirely in their favor. Striker’s right pinky finger is damaged and both forearms have sustained damage, but on the whole it’s totally fixable by her crew.

 

Chuck stabbed the kaiju in the neck with the right gauntlet blade while Aurora followed this up with a deep slice to Tisane’s neck. Chuck actually stuck his hand into the wound he made and threw the kaiju away from them.

 

“Where is it? LOCCENT – anything?”

 

In the obscuring wall of foam and spray that had been created – Tisane had disappeared.

 

“N-nothing.”

 

“Seriously? There are no life signs at all?”

 

“Shit.” Aurora breathed, hitting the comm button. “Scramble Gipsy; this thing is following Knifehead’s fight patterns.”

 

As the affirmative came through from Tendo, Striker’s head swiveled as Chuck and Aurora searched – with increasing feelings of franticness – for any sign of Tisane.

 

And then it all spectacularly – and horrifically – went to hell.

 

Creating its own obfuscating plume of sea spray, water, and foam, Tisane surged out of the water with a roar Aurora fancied can be heard in the inland “safe zones.” With no time to react, to prevent the impact, Tisane ripped right into Chuck’s side of the conn-pod.

 

Everyone always heard the stories about mothers, fathers, even groups of strangers granted sudden beast-mode strength to lift seemingly immovable objects off of trapped children or people.

 

Aurora isn’t fully able to explain later on – and neither is Chuck – but the best explanation the two of them come up with is that Chuck lunged toward Aurora and she practically ripped him out of the harness as Tisane tore through Striker’s head.

 

“I GOT HIM! I GOT CHUCK!” Aurora screamed as she went into a sort of berserker mode of her own and beat back Tisane while Chuck clung to pretty much one of the only places he can – Aurora and her own harness.

 

“Striker Eureka, what is your status? How damaged is the head? Are you still operational?”

 

“I AM A LITTLE BUSY TENDO! ASK LATER!”

 

“Rory, are you… piloting solo?” Tendo’s voice is stunned, it’s the only word for it.

 

“I DON’T KNOW. Chuck’s got his helmet on still and it’s still attached, but only by the wire equivalent of sinew and it is sparking and sometimes the connection goes – I’M DOING IT FUCKING NOW. HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK HOW THE FUCK DID PENTECOST AND BECKET _DO_ THIS?!” Aurora screamed as the connecting wires from Chuck’s helmet to the harness finally snapped.

 

“DISCONNECT, AURORA!” Voices that Aurora later distinguished as Chuck, Tendo, Herc, Pentecost, Mako and Raleigh scream at her.

 

“NO. NOT AGAIN. IF MY EX-BOYFRIEND CAN DO THIS SO CAN FUCKING I!” Aurora screamed back, shrilly, rearing her arm back to punch the incoming kaiju straight in the eye. “Chuck, this is going to get ugly; I want you to get into an escape pod and get the hell of Striker before we get punched and you get sent flying about the conn-pod!”

 

“Aurora, you need to disconnect before you have a seizure or worse!” Chuck argued.

 

“No, what I _need_ is for my co-pilot to not argue with me and get into a conn-pod so I don’t have to worry about keeping him alive with no harness to be attached to while I try to fight a damn ugly kaiju! GO.”

 

For a moment, Chuck looked like he was going to argue with her before he changed his mind and limped to the escape pods. The very second the instruments registered a pod being ejected, Aurora is pushing against herself and the kaiju, actually pushing the ugly fucker back and away from Chuck.

 

“Aurora, do you remember that game me, you, Opie and some other kids played where we would grab onto Piney’s arm or John’s arm and they’d spin and we’d go flying into a pile of leaves?” Becket’s voice is suddenly crackling into the comm in her helmet.

 

“I throw Gipsy, with the sword out, into the kaiju?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Let’s do it.”

 

“Turn to grab Gipsy’s right arm in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

 

Aurora pivoted on Raleigh’s command and grabbed the outstretched right arm, careful of the plasma cannon and began to spin and work up momentum.

 

“Here. We. GO!” Aurora roared the last word as she threw Gipsy dead on at the kaiju. Her head is pounding like she’s been on a ten year bender and her entire body is aching with the effort of keeping Striker Eureka going and upright and Aurora really would like to disconnect and let the jumphawks bring her and the jaeger back to the ‘dome. But she couldn’t do it, just in case Gipsy Danger needed the back up.

 

Aurora, whatever her feelings are toward Raleigh, cannot help but be a little impressed at how smooth and how… copacetic the pair of them are in the restored Mark-III. They really are drift compatible and kind of do prove the old adage that it takes all sorts.

 

It did not take long for Gipsy to finish off the injured kaiju, something Aurora is quickly coming to realize she’s imminently grateful for, barely waiting for Tendo to confirm on LOCCENT’s end that the kaiju is definitely dead before she turned and started walking back toward Victoria Harbor.

 

_Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, this fucker is heavy. This fucker is reallllllly heavy. Holy shit. How the fuck did they not think in the first_ _–_ _ow_ _–_ _place that these things were so fucking_ _–_ _ow owwwww ow!_ _–_ _big that they were going to need two pilots?_

 

“AURORA.”

 

Aurora startled at that, it must be a slightly humorous picture to see a jaeger jerk in surprise if Striker does it too.

 

“I am busy walking! What?!” Is her annoyed response.

 

“We are aware of that, we’ve been trying to get your attention for the last 2 minutes.”

 

“Oh. Well. As I’m sure you’re more than aware, Marshal, sir, these things are a bit on the… er… weighty side.”

 

Aurora can almost hear the slight smile in the Marshal’s voice when he responded.

 

“I do, indeed, remember. That’s why I am asking you to power down and let the jumphawks do the heavy lifting; it’s what they’re there for.”

 

“I feel fine, though.”

 

“Talmadge, you might feel fine now. You might feel fine hours afterward, but the switch will be flicked and I do not need someone who has just proved she _can_ pilot a jaeger out of commission.”

 

“Okay, fine. Powering down.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Aurora went through the motions and tried to not groan too loudly in relief when the heaviness in her head left for the most part. She planned to take the world’s longest shower in her private bathroom the second she can get out of the drivesuit and into actual clothes. Every inch of her is starting to ache like she’s been fighting in the kwoon non-stop for the last six months. She really just wants to take a hot shower, swallow down some ibuprofen or paracetamol or whatever the hell they might have in stock and go to bed.

 

But that plan seemed to quickly fly out the window when she walked out the drive suit room to see the Marshal and Herc waiting for her. Herc wasted no time in descending on Aurora and giving her some sort of mother hen-like examination. Aurora looked over his shoulder at Pentecost who just shrugged like ‘He does this.’

 

“Herc, Herc! I’m fine. I’ll even go to medical and let them check me over to prove it!”

 

“You got damned lucky, Rory.” Herc growled, getting way into Aurora’s personal space to look at her eyes.

 

“Told ya I’d kick Chuck’s ass outta Striker if I had to.” Aurora mumbled almost under her breath.

 

Herc rested his hand on Aurora’s shoulder (after stepping out of her personal space) and looked her in the eye, “Thank you.”

 


	16. The Buffer Ends and the After Effects Catch Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora goes down, but help is guided to her by Max, the best dog in the Shatterdome.

“How are you feeling, Talmadge?” Pentecost asked, his steady gaze fixed upon Aurora – like he’s trying to x-ray her and see for himself if she’s suffering from any effects of solo-piloting. Or, in other words, a more dignified version of what Herc just did.

 

“I feel a headache coming on, I won’t lie about that, sir. But otherwise – not too bad. 12 years’ worth of rage and feeling like I finally got vengeance for my kids is a good… buffer; for lack of a better word.”

 

“All the same, please report to medical and get checked out.”

 

“Yes, sir, Marsh—“

 

“What the hell do you mean “vengeance for my _kids_?”

 

Aurora jumped, visibly, and the prevalent thought in her brain goes along the lines of ‘must get out of here.’

 

“Herc, let’s go see how Chuck’s doing in medical.” Aurora’s voice fluted up a little high as she grabbed Herc’s good arm and hauled him down the hallway deciding the best course of action – for now – is to ignore Raleigh

 

Is it a cowardly move? Yeah, probably. But, Aurora reasoned with herself, she can always come clean to Raleigh if she came back from the Breach. If not… well, Raleigh isn’t stupid.

 

“Er… Aurora? Becket’s not following us, so feel free to slow down. We don’t need you collapsing because you pushed yourself too hard too soon.”

 

“Sorry for dragging you off like that. I panicked a little.” Aurora apologized as she let go of Herc’s arm.

 

“I noticed.” Herc wryly said. “Maybe Chuck and I aren’t the only ones who need to talk things out.”

 

Aurora snorted as she and Herc crossed the threshold into medical.

 

“Ranger Hansen, your son is in Room 1. Officer Talmadge, come with me to Exam Room 1 and we’ll get you checked out.”

 

“Efficient nurses are unsettling. At least you don’t speak in plurals.” Aurora grumbled.

 

“Plurals?” The nurse asked as she motioned toward the exam table.

 

“You know, nonsense like ‘and how are we feeling today?’”  
  


“Ah.” The nurse nodded, sliding a blood pressure cuff on Aurora’s arm. “I too find that annoying, so you needn’t worry.”

 

After all baseline readings are taken, this odd looking machine is wheeled in and little electrodes are hooked up to Aurora’s head to monitor her brain activity.

 

_Who knew having my brain monitored would be so boring?_

 

“Bored yet?” Chuck asked, poking his head into the room.

 

“You have no idea. Are you supposed to be out of your room?”

 

“Probably not.” Chuck said, hobbling over to the exam table and hopping up next to Aurora.

 

“How’s the ankle?”

 

“Broken. A combination of… I don’t fucking know.”

 

“I’m gonna take a stab and say it’s down to your fight or flight instinct taking over before you could get out of the harness and me trying to rip you out of said harness, at the same time.”

 

“You did do that. It was…”  
  
“Adrenaline.”

 

“What are you doing here?” Chuck demanded of Becket, who is standing in the doorway.

 

“We need to talk, Aurora.” Raleigh said, ignoring Chuck.

 

“No we don’t. I was talking about Abel and Chuck.”

 

“Bullshit. I know when you’re lying, Aurora, remember? Your right eyelid twitches.”

 

“The time for talking came and went when we started throwing cutlery at each other. I don’t know Raleigh Becket any more than he knows me. Though I know Jax is still there; I saw him after I cobbed you in the nose. So, go away. I don’t feel like talking to either of you.”

 

“Aurora –“

 

“PENTECOST!” Aurora yelled at the top of her lungs. Moments later the Marshal’s powerful form is filling the doorway behind Raleigh. Aurora said nothing, she just pointed.

 

“Becket, I understand the desire to speak with Ranger Talmadge about events in your shared past but it just cannot happen right now.”

 

“Thank you, Marshal Pen—wait, ‘ranger?’”

 

“You’ve been reinstated.” Pentecost said, pulling dog tags out of his pocket and tossing them to Auorora.

 

Aurora snatched them out of the air and looked at them, noticing a familiar dent on the corner of one.

 

“Wait a sec—These are mine. The ones I gave to Vasili to be destroyed.”

 

“I had them saved. I knew they would be needed again someday.” Is all Pentecost offered up on the matter.

 

And it’s enough for Aurora. She took off her ‘officer’ dog tags to replace them with her new/old ‘ranger’ dog tags with quiet joy.

 

The doctor cleared Aurora to go back to her room – her brain scans came back clean – though he recommended that Aurora not sleep alone tonight as a precaution.

 

Herc immediately offered up his bed so Aurora can bunk with Chuck and Max for the night. When Aurora asked where Herc is going to sleep, he just shrugged and says “I’ll find a place to sleep; there’s enough empty rooms here.” (That was after Aurora had offered her room to him).

 

“So, _Ranger_ Talmadge, how’s it feel?” Chuck asked as they walked back to his room a little after Aurora had gotten her dog tags back.

 

“Soooooo weird. Like, it’s not sunk in.” Aurora said, picking up a dog tag to look at it.

 

“I’d say let’s get a drink to celebrate – but Pentecost will wanna get on with Pitfall the moment repairs are complete on Striker.”

 

“I wanna agree, but my head is telling me to go lie down.”

 

“Did they give you anything in medical?”

 

“Just the usual over the counter stuff. I’m thinking sleeping it off is my best bet at this point.”

 

Aurora and Chuck eventually made it back to Chuck’s quarters where Aurora is quick to climb into her temporary bunk and fashion a little cocoon of blankets to nod off in, briefly opening up the blankets so Max can work his way in there with her.

 

Chuck set himself up on his bed, slumped comfortably back against his pillows, foot propped up on another pillow and read over an engineering report on Striker, eventually nodding off, the papers slipping from senseless fingers to land on his stomach.

 

Neither of them flinched or stirred even a little when Herc snuck back in a few hours later to grab some things. Chuck made a breathy snuffling noise as Herc took the report off his stomach and pulled the blanket carelessly tossed across his legs higher up his chest. And after checking on Aurora to make sure she was still breathing – despite her assurances after getting back into civilian gear he was still a little worried – Herc left as quietly as he came.

 

“How are they?”

 

“Both dead to the world.” Herc responded as he started off up the hall to his temporary quarters.

 

“Good, good. They both performed admirably today.”

 

Herc snorted. “Admirably? Both of them did exceptionally bloody well.”

 

“Fine. They both did exceptionally well. But you know what Chuck’s being injured means…”

 

“Yeah, I do.” Herc sighed.

 

Aurora woke up some hours later, due to the headache that wasn’t apparently ready to vacate her skull. She extricated herself from the blankets and stumbled to the bathroom to locate and then swallow two more headache tablets from the medicine cabinet.

 

“Okay?” Chuck sleepily burbled from his bed.

 

“Yeah.” Aurora said as she turned on Herc’s lamp to search the sheets for her missing ponytail holder. “Woke up with a bit of a headache still so I took some more stuff. How are you feeling?”

 

“My ankle is throbbing and it’s annoying.” Is Chuck’s succinct response. “And I gotta itch.”

 

“Find a pencil and stuff the eraser end down your cast.” Is Aurora’s advice as she crawled back into the blanket cave, helping Max get to the floor first. “If there’s food, wake me. Otherwise, I’mma going back to sleep.”

 

“You’re unhelpful.”

 

“You have a broken ankle, you’re not a paraplegic.” Is the muffled retort.

 

Chuck grumbled and darkly muttered but ended up using the crutches to hobble out of the room after attempting to and failing to find a pencil.

 

Aurora is next roused to an awake state by Max gently giving her these little love nips.

 

“Hey, buddy, whatreya doing?” Aurora asked, her words slurring together in a big yawn.

 

Max took this opportunity to slip around on the blankets and firmly plant his little self on Aurora’s hips.

 

“Silly Max.” Aurora smiled, petting Max behind his ears just the way he likes, getting thwacked by his stubby little tale in the process, but oh well.

 

Aurora dozed in the bed, the sheets warmed in her sleep and for a few more minutes at least she’s unwilling to get out of bed and go and face the unknowns out in the Shatterdome. But, needs must and eventually she roused herself, bringing Max as she headed to the Shatterdome kitchen to get a snack.

 

“People are looking at me weird, Max.” Aurora muttered to the bulldog as they turn the corner to the kitchen.

 

Max just looked up at Aurora making a bit of a funny noise before heading right up to the kitchen door. And it is true, people are looking at her. Most aren’t outright staring, no, but Aurora can tell that people in the halls are looking at her, few as there are, out the corner of their eyes and then it goes into full on stares as she passed them. She found it very weird and doesn’t fully get why people are staring.

 

There’s no one in the kitchens when she walked in, but Aurora still made Max sit by the door while she figuratively dove into the fridge.

 

The moment Aurora opened the door to one of the massive refrigerators in the kitchen, the (heinously) bright lights inside hit Aurora dead in the face.

 

“Jesus, fuck,” Aurora mumbled, taking a step back and letting the door swing shut. She stood there a minute (or two or five) massaging her temples because that sudden and way too bright light makes her headache feel a million times worse. And then Aurora takes into account how she feels… tired and sleepy again, but it’s all wrong. And she thinks her last conscious act or thought might be calling for Max, but everything had gone black.

 

The second Aurora hit the ground, Max came running over to her. He made worried noises, nosed at Aurora’s arm and even licked her in a couple places, but no response. She was moving funny, it wasn’t right and it wasn’t how his human’s normally moved.

 

Max ran for the door as fast as his four little legs would allow, plowing into the heavy door hard enough to get it to swing open so he can slip out. And as he runs around the mess he starts to bark his head off and does not stop.

 

The yellow haired human that His Human does not like is the first to find him.

 

“Hey, Max, what’s going on buddy? Why so agitated? Where’s Chuck?” Raleigh asked, bending down to pet Max.

 

But Max won’t be swayed with pets and danced out of Raleigh’s reach and kept barking at him as he turned and high tailed it back to the kitchen door, stopping and looking back every so often to make sure the yellow haired human is following him.

 

Raleigh followed, amused at this and wondering what Chuck had planned… ‘cause something was definitely up.

 

The stupid little smile is wiped off his face the second he sees a twitching pair of boots sticking out from behind the island prep space.

 

“Shit,” Raleigh breathed as he ran around the island, cursing again when he saw the owner of the boots.

 

“Aurora…” Raleigh growled, trying and succeeding in gently (and super carefully) rolling Aurora onto her side, so in case she vomits while seizing she doesn’t choke on it.

 

He times Aurora’s seizure while wishing he had a phone so he could call for help. What feels like the world’s longest sixty seconds and there’s a visible decrease in Aurora’s twitching. Raleigh sits back on his haunches and waits, keeping a watchful eye with Max, who has not moved from Aurora’s side.

 

Aurora blinks a few times, more awareness and life coming back into her eyes and face.

 

“What the hell happened?”

 

“’f course. H’d t’ be y’u.” Aurora groaned. “Did I p’ke?”

 

“No.” Raleigh told her. “You drooled, but I managed to roll you onto your side so just in case… you didn’t aspirate on your own vomit.”

 

“Th’nks.” Aurora mumbled. “Feel like sh’t.”

 

“I bet. You realize I’m going to have to either walk you to medical or call for someone to come up from medical?”

 

“Am so f’cked. Pentec’st is g’nna ground me.” Aurora mumbled, looking really upset. Her dream, which had been _so. fucking. close._ to becoming a reality, was totally down the shitter now.

 

“He might also be more than a little pissed with medical since they _did_ clear you.” Raleigh pointed out. “Can you sit up?”

 

“Can try.”

 

It took Aurora a moment, but she did manage to sit up and lean against the island without any aid from Raleigh.

 

“You are aware I’m gonna have to walk you to medical.”

 

“W’y?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I walked in here and you were having a fucking _seizure_?”

 

“Go f’ck y’self.” Aurora tried to level a glare at Raleigh, but everything hurt too much for her to put much effort into it.

 

“I’m gonna go with ‘no.’”

 

“Y’re enjoying th’s.”

 

“And you’re having a problem articulating. Which is not good. And according to my watch it’s been about ten minutes since I walked in here and found you on the floor; so, I’m gonna help you up and then we’re gonna make a late night visit to medical.”

 

“Threatn’ng medical ‘sgonna be hard.”

 

“Relax, will ya.” Raleigh cajoled her as he helped Aurora up and keeping a careful, respectful arm wrapped around her they start heading for medical. Max kept pace with them, definitely not intending to let Aurora out of his sight because she is His Other Human.

 


	17. Be As Silent As the Grave and Quieter Than Church Mice

The halls are mercifully empty or they have plenty of time to find somewhere to hide if they hear someone coming along.

 

“Why are you bein’ so nice?” Aurora asked as they rounded a final corner.

 

“Not like Mako and I can go down there by ourselves, can we?” Raleigh rhetorically queried as he pushed the double swing doors open.

 

The medical staff were… more than a little weirded out when Raleigh and Aurora made their presence known. As in, the second they stepped through the double doors, the pain in Aurora’s head was still bad enough to make her vomit all over the floor. The doctor on call immediately swooped in and flicked a pen light into Aurora’s eyes.

 

“Someone—Nurse Takaguchi! Get Marshal Pentecost on the phone—“

 

“Do not lift up that receiver.” Raleigh called out in a hard, almost harsh voice Aurora remembered as medical staff take control of her.

 

“Ranger Becket, we need to—“

 

“Not tell the Marshal. You tell him and Pitfall is fucking cancelled. He and Ranger Talmadge here and Gipsy are all we got left. You tell him that Ranger Talmadge is in less than perfect health – she had a seizure that lasted for about a minute, by the way, and has had trouble articulating – he will ground her and then we are one hundred percent done for. If you want the world to end, fine. Call Pentecost. Have him come down here. If not… Do what you have to to help the both of us keep this hidden. At least until after Pitfall.”

 

The doctor looked at Raleigh, the nurses (the ones not holding Aurora up) look at both Raleigh and the doctor and Raleigh stared steadily back at the doctor.

 

“Do not call the Marshal. Anders, Yamaguchi, please escort Ranger Talmadge to x-ray. And be thorough with it.”

 

Aurora holds plenty still, the weight of the lead apron arranged on her grounding, as the nurses retreat to the separate room the controls are in.

 

Fifteen minutes later saw Aurora sitting in an exam room with Raleigh occupying the obligatory chair in the corner (Max asleep next to his feet) and Doctor Lewis going over the x-rays with Aurora and explaining that he’s ordered an MRI because of a dark spot on the x-ray.

 

“H’w come it wasn’t spotted b’fore?” Aurora mumbled, rubbing at her eyes and desperately wishing she was asleep in a bed.

 

“Any number of reasons, but the one that seems most plausible is that the intracerebral hemorrhage you suffered was a slow bleeder. But there is currently pressure on your brain here—“ Aurora looked at the area the doctor was circling, “and our options are neither many or very good.”

 

“An’ they all involve borin’ into m’skull.” Aurora added. “I’m so grounded.”

 

“Well, there is… there is one way. It’s an experimental procedure – not being widely performed, just tested in university medical hospitals scattered around the world.”

 

“I’m listenin’.”

 

“It’s based around a treatment for patients who have blood clots in their brains and to lower risk of brain damage after stroke. We would anesthetize you and intubate you through your mouth, and using a CT-scan to guide us and first cauterize the leaking vein shut. And then, we would go back in a second time to suction out the blood creating pressure on your brain.”

 

“Recovery time?” Raleigh asked.

 

“Well… if we get Ranger Talmadge into surgery within the next forty-five minutes, we can have her back in her room by dawn and I’ll personally monitor you, Ranger, and with any luck you’ll be 100% ready to go by Operation Pitfall’s launch.”

 

“Le’s get me prepp’d for surgery.” Aurora immediately agreed.

 

“I’ll go wander around the ‘dome; make sure Chuck hasn’t noticed you’ve gone missing. I’ll be there when you wake up.”

 

“You don’t have to.” Aurora warily replied, eyeing Raleigh up and down.

 

Raleigh carelessly shrugged. “Might as well see this thing out. Plus, someone’s gotta return Max to his room. Also, you might wanna think up a plausible lie to Baby Hansen about why you went to sleep in your own room,” Raleigh called out as he sauntered out of medical with Max at his heels.

 

Aurora is whipped through pre-op at a breakneck pace and the last thing she remembered is climbing onto the operating table and laying down. The next thing she remembers is coming to in her own quarters, in her own bed, with the doctor who had performed the procedure (one Doctor Toby Guyere who had been woken at ass o’clock in the morning by Doctor Lewis) checking her vitals.

 

“You got big pores. And if you follow them they make a w-wonky pattern. Like an upside down taco.”

 

“Thank you for noticing.” Doctor Guyere said with a smile, smoothly continuing on his checks. “And that’s the anesthesia talking mostly. You won’t remember much of anything you say, and don’t worry I won’t hold anything against you.”

 

“How magnanimous of you.” Aurora mumbled, watching Guyere pick up her wrist and take her pulse.

 

“Large words. Very good for someone who’s just undergone experimental surgery.”

 

“You sarcastic fucker.” Aurora breathily sighed. “How’d it go?”

 

“It was a 100% success. I performed the surgery as you and Doctor Lewis discussed and successfully cauterized that bleeder you had in your head closed. We successfully suctioned out the blood so there’s no more pressure on your brain. And your vitals are nice and even and never so much as varied a tiny bit during or after surgery. You’ll be able to go down to the Breach. Just… stay out of sight for the next day or so as you recover and the anesthesia leaves your system.”

 

“No problem. I feel like I wanna nap for the next hundred years.”

 

“Well, Rip Van Winkle,” Guyere said, rising to his feet and replacing Aurora’s desk chair back under said desk, “You’ve probably only got the next 24 hours or so to rest up, judging by the scuttlebutt.”

 

“Then I’m gonna go pee and go back to sleep.” Aurora declared, tossing back her covers and swinging her legs over the side of her bed. Her first attempt failed epically; Aurora got up onto her feet but her legs wobbled like a newborn animal’s and she dropped back down onto her butt with a little ‘oof!’ “Help me get up, please.”

 

“Certainly, Ranger.” Doctor Guyere replied with an amused smile, helping Aurora cross the small space to her bathroom and back to bed when she’s done.

  
“Will the wobbly legs go away?”

 

“Yes, they will. Once you eat and get some rest and take in some fluids. Water or something like Gatorade or its like.”

 

“Duly noted.”

 

“I’ll try and sneak back here in a few hours or send a nurse or Lewis if I’m unable, but take it easy until you absolutely have to.”

 

“Thanks, doc. I mean it; if it weren’t for you… I’d be grounded.”

 

“Well, call me selfish, but I kinda like being alive and doing what I do. If Pentecost cancels Operation Pitfall because one half of Striker Eureka’s out of commission… we’re kind of all dead.”

 

“That’s true enough.” Aurora agreed, leaning back against her pillows and half-heartedly pulling her sheets back up.

 

“Rest well, Ranger,” Doctor Guyere said by way of farewell.

 

Aurora was already well on her way to drifting off to sleep when Guyere met someone exiting her room, they exchanged words and then her door shut. And there were noises in her room that were not here.

 

“I wanna sleep.” Aurora mumbled, annoyed.

 

“I brought you some water. And food. And a warning: Chuck’s on his way over and more than a little peeved you up and disappeared on him. He wouldn’t speak to me, but his body language spoke volumes.”

 

“I can deal with it.” Aurora muttered. “Go ‘way. I have less than 24 hours to recover from surgery and if I look less than dewy fresh and ready to march in a robot to my death, Pentecost is gonna know something is up.”

 

“Pentecost is going to know something’s up the moment he’s in your head.” Raleigh pointed out.

 

“If I’m lucky he won’t. And what’s Chuck gonna say if he gets here and finds you in my quarters? He’s known who you were since he was 16.”

 

Raleigh shrugged. “He’s toned it down a bit after Mako and I saved him and his dad from Leatherback.” He unscrewed a bottle of water and held it out. “Drink water, can’t have you going down dehydrated.”

 

“You’re being weird.”

 

“Remember what we were taught as kids? If someone can kick your ass and you didn’t see it coming, that person deserves some respect.” Raleigh gave the water bottle a little shake for emphasis.

 

“Still weird, after our past history.” Aurora grudgingly reached for the bottle and gulped down some water before setting the bottle on the floor. “I’ll eat the food after I get some more real sleep.”

 

“Alright. See you around the ‘dome.”

 

Aurora made a non-committal grunt and just burrowed down in her sheets, feeling sore and willing sleep to come before Chuck arrived because he never wakes her when she’s sleeping.

 

No such luck. A few minutes after Raleigh left, there’s a rapid fire knocking at the door, irritation in every soundwave.

 

“Shiiiiiit.” Aurora whispered into her pillow, eyes closed. “It’s open.” She called out, not making a move to bestir herself from bed.

 

“Where the hell did you go last night?” Are the first words out of Chuck’s mouth, loaded with irritation and worry.

 

“I woke up after you went off in search of a pencil and I wanted to sleep in my own bed. I am fine, before you ask and my headache is gone.”

 

“I came to your room; you weren’t here.”

 

“I went to get a snack from the kitchen first cuz I was hungry. We must have just missed each other; I turned one corner as you turned another sort of thing.”

 

Aurora felt bad for lying to Chuck, but she could hardly tell him that probably at the time he had been looking for her, she had either been in the middle of having a seizure or was being secretly operated on in medical. If she told him either of those, the kid probably would have gone and told Pentecost. Or he would have told his father, who then would have run off to tell Pentecost. For the time being, it was easier to tell a white lie or two.

 

“Well… you could have left a note.” Chuck finally said after casting about a moment or two for something to say.

 

“I could have and I’m sorry I didn’t; I just wanted to get back to my own bed.”

 

“I guess I can understand that.” Chuck acquiesced, sitting down on Aurora’s desk chair.

 

“Been down to the jaeger bay yet?” Aurora asked, changing the subject. The less she had to lie to her friend, the better.

 

“Yeah. Christ… Striker’s head is just… I don’t fucking know how they’re going to fix it so fast. I mean, Pentecost is literally throwing people at this thing; he’s assigned Cherno and Crimson’s crews to assist my – our crew with anything and everything they need help with.”

 

“They’ll get it done. Do they have a deadline?”

 

“Yesterday, basically. Pentecost, anyone, doesn’t need to tell them that this needs to be done as fast as possible, we all know what will happen, you know?”

 

“Striker’s crew will get the head and anything else that needs doing repaired, you know that.” Aurora reassured Chuck.

 

“That doesn’t make me feel better. Cuz that means you going down to the Mariana Trench with I don’t fucking know who, just that it isn’t me or my old man.”

 

“Yeah, speaking of that: Who is going to replace you on the run?”

 

“No idea.” Chuck shrugged. “You were the last rookie in the ‘dome. No offense.”

 

“None taken.” Aurora reassured him.

 

It ended up taking three days and cannibalizing material from both Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha as it was found to repair the damage to Striker Eureka’s head.

 

“It’s a total Frankenjaeger.” Aurora told Sasha and Aleksis. She had had a discreet check up with Guyere and decided to visit Sasha and Aleksis after the appointment. “We’re just lucky that someone remembered that materials for the visor had been brought with them to Hong Kong; cuz fuck if I know where we’d get the material to replace _that_.”

 

“Black market?” Sasha suggested.

 

“Sure, Chau might’ve known where we’d get something to replace the visor, but… I doubt we would’ve received the material in time. It reminds me though, that I’m not in this alone when I look at the head and see ugly ass Cherno grey and then a piece of Typhoon red.” Aurora laughed, ducking the pillow Aleksis had thrown after ‘ugly ass Cherno grey.’

 

“See, this is why I sat on Sasha’s bed; he’d never throw a pillow at me.”

 

“The very _cheek_!”

 

“The grey is ugly.” Sasha agreed with Aurora, high-fiving her and chuckling at the look on his wife’s face.

 

Aleksis stuck her tongue out at Aurora in response before she slid her way down her bed some, getting more comfortable. “Have you been told who you’re going down with?”

 

“No,” Aurora shook her head. “I’ve gone over it with Chuck, and we’ve wracked our brains but we can’t think of anyone that could be my co-pilot. It’s like Chuck said: I’m the last rookie in this ‘dome. There are no other pilots available.”

 

“Welllllll,” Aleksis said after a moment’s quiet consideration, drawing out the word, “there is one person. It makes a certain sense, as well.”

 

“Who?”

 

“The only other generation one pilot besides us and Herc.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The procedure that I have Aurora secretly undergo was bs-ed from a brief article I read while researching treatments for bleeding in the brain and seizures. The procedure, as I said in the chapter itself, is based off of a treatment for treating blood clots and such in stroke victims. I would put the link to the article itself, but a few months back my computer crashed and wiped the sticky note i had the link saved to. I'm going to look for it, but my hopes are not high in this instance.
> 
> EDIT: This is the link which lead to said bs-ed medical procedure. Oh the things you will find when going through your sent emails looking for something else entirely.  
> http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/new_technique_successfully_dissolves_blood_clots_in_the_brain_and_lowers_risk_of_brain_damage_after_stroke


	18. The Problem with Generation One Pilots – They're Stubborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora gets a bit testy with her new co-pilot.

After hastily saying good-byes to Sasha and Aleksis, Aurora ran out of medical so fast she nearly ran into Mako and Raleigh, so focused was she on getting to her destination, or, rather, so focused was she on finding someone.

 

“You feeling okay?” Raleigh asked, giving her that look. You know the ‘You had fairly major surgery a few days ago, take it easy’ look.

  
“No. Mako, where’s your dad?”

 

“I believe he is in his office with Herc. Is something the matter, Ranger Talmadge?”

 

“Providing on the answer I get to a question, something will be the matter.” Aurora said as she turned around and made a beeline for the Marshall’s office. Naturally, Mako and Raleigh tagged along. Mako because she was confused and wished to find out what had Aurora so agitated and Raleigh because the last thing they needed is Aurora blowing a gasket.

 

Anyone in the hallway that was in Aurora’s path as she stormed down them got themselves to the side rather quickly.

 

“Aurora, what has you so pissed off?” Raleigh asked as Aurora rounded the last corner.

 

Aurora ignored him but sped up her pace, not even bothering to knock but making rather an entrance by opening the door so hard she dented the wall with the handle.

 

“I trust there is a good reason you’ve barged into my office like this?” Pentecost mildly asked, but the warning was there.

 

Aurora lifted her hand and jabbed a finger in his direction. “No.”

 

“No?” Pentecost repeated.

 

“Hell no.” Aurora reiterated. “Absolutely not, one thousand times no.”

 

“Aurora, what are you on about?” Herc asked, rising from his chair.

 

“I’ve been in Chuck’s head, which unfortunately means I’ve also been in yours and the answer is no Pentecost.”

 

The look that Herc and Pentecost is not insignificant; they know what Aurora is meaning with her ‘no’s’ now.

 

“There aren’t any other options, Aurora.” Herc is the first to break the tense silence.

 

“The _hell_ there isn’t! What about the last class that was in the Academy? Surely we could use whoever had the best dtk instead of the alternative, which may I remind you I am unfortunately waaaaaaaaaaay too aware of because 1) I saw it in the drift and 2) Herc is a fucking gossip when he’s on painkillers.”

 

“OI!”

 

“Who’s the one who told me _himself_ he can’t keep his mouth shut when on painkillers?” Aurora witheringly asked. “Also, do not get me started on what I saw in the drift because I have half a mind to blister your ears on a subject or two.” She turned her attention back to Pentecost. “No no a thousand times no. Repairs are still being done on Striker’s head so let’s test me with someone, _anyone_ who was in the last Academy class. I will drift with a janitor or the kid who mans the dishwasher first. Or what about Lightcap or D’Onofrio? Far as I know they’re both still kicking around. Test me with either one of them. Lightcap invented the PONS and achieved the first drift for fuck’s sake – that _has_ to count for something. Lightcap is the first gen one pilot, the very first.”

 

“Care to catch up the two confused people here?” Raleigh asked, his voice full of false cheer.

 

“Do you _really_ want to use that tone when I’m in this mood?”

 

“Well, I’m confused as hell, Mako is too – she’s just too polite to say anything.” Raleigh next made a noise as his co-pilot elbowed him hard in the ribs.

 

“Do you want to tell them or should I? Because it’s still a hell no.”

 

“Talmadge, we are done discussing this.”

 

“No, we are not. You wanna be stubborn? Ask Raleigh, I can, will and have taken that shit to new levels.”

 

“It’s true, sir, she can.”

 

“Sensei?”

 

In the end, it is the way Mako politely, respectfully used her title for him as a question, combined with a little bit of puppy dog face that did Stacker in. He let out an annoyed sigh, shot Aurora a look that promised retribution in some form and shuffled some papers on his desk to buy himself some time.

 

“I will be going down in Striker Eureka with Ranger Talmadge.”

 

“No, you’re not.” Aurora aggravated-ly sang.

 

“But, Sensei – The doctors said—“ Mako is horrified and scared in the same moment, a daughter worried for her father.

 

“I know what they said, Mako. But we are out of options.”  
  
“No, we are not.” Aurora interjected through her teeth.

 

“I am not sending someone who has dropped once – admirably as you performed during the drop – and someone so green they still piss grass. The repairs on Striker Eureka are complete. Choi has registered two signatures of Category IV size circling the Breach; Pitfall is scheduled for eleven hundred hours tomorrow morning, this is my last word on the matter.”

 

“Well, there’s no time to lose, is there?” Aurora queried, maneuvering around Raleigh and Mako.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You’ll find out in the drift, won’t you?” Aurora yelled over her shoulder, in no mood to tell.

 

Aurora proceeded to disappear for the rest of the afternoon. Multiple people tried to find her; she was paged over the building-wide comm by Chuck, Herc, Tendo, and various members of Cherno Alpha’s crew. Nothing. The technicians for Striker Eureka swear that Aurora hadn’t stopped by to speak with them or anyone else on the crew. No one knows where she has gone and the only thing they know for certain is that she hasn’t left – there’s only one way in or out of the Shatterdome grounds and security hasn’t seen her and neither have the cameras.

 

“Aurora Talmadge, now is not the time to do a bunk. Please get yourself to the nearest phone and let us know where you are. That vein in Chuck’s neck that grows about ten times its normal size when he’s pissed is getting bigger.”

 

Aurora looked up from her hiding place. Tendo again. They had begun repeating that one every hour after she failed to show up to the mess for lunch and then dinner. Though the addendum about Chuck was new. She’d been hiding in K-Science all day, Newt and Hermann were still in Hong Kong dealing with Hannibal Chau and what was left of Otachi.

 

The couch was well-hidden behind Hermann’s chalkboards and Aurora had found Newt’s stash of junk food in his desk and fridge and comic books in his desk and since there was a bathroom in the lab with a big ol’ emergency shower in it, she was good if she needed to go and felt zero inclination to leave K-Science for the foreseeable future. The only thing she wanted for was a cup of tea or ten made by Gottlieb; the man had a gift.

 

“Talmadge, I am not above letting Sasha and Aleksis loose from medical to look for you.”

 

Aurora snorted. “You might not be, but Gullbrandsen is.” She turned a page in the comic and read on.

 

Twenty minutes later a familiar and quite irate Australian accent comes in through the building wide comm.

 

“Aurora you have 2 fucking minutes to get to a phone somewhere in the fucking building or I’m going to break into your goddamn room, get a shirt and use my dog to track you down _again_. And then I’m going to kick your arse for pulling this shit. Call LOCCENT. _NOW_.”

 

Aurora let out a dramatic sigh, hauling herself off the couch and over to the phone. Hitting in Pentecost’s code for the building-wide Aurora holds the voice part of the receiver to her mouth.

 

“I am still in the building, I am fine but still pissed off and Pentecost is still a ragingly stubborn pain in the ass. Oh, and Tendo, you owe me a hundred bucks. THD? Totally a thing.”

 

And now everyone in the Shatterdome knew the current status of her feelings toward her boss. Aurora replaced the receiver and retreated back to her hiding place and picked up where she had left off in the comic.

 

“I’ll be glad to hand you the hundred bucks myself, if you come out of hiding.” Is Tendo’s response.

 

Aurora groaned in annoyance, but got up again anyway. “I’m quite comfortable where I currently am, thankyouverymuch. But nice try, guys.”

 

“Pentecost wants to know how you know his building override code for the comm system. He’d like for the two of you to have a chat, his office door is open and he’s available anytime between now and tomorrow morning.”

 

“That’s for me to know and you to not find out.” Aurora quietly sang in response to Tendo.

 

Aurora was quite tempted to just spend the night hiding in K-Science, but not knowing where (or if there were any) the pillows and blankets were, or when Newt and Gottlieb would return, she decided it would be better to just walk back to her room.

 

It’s late and everyone who has to has turned in early for tomorrow, so there aren’t many about as Aurora walked back to her quarters, head held defiantly high.

 

But the first person to sight her is painfully obvious about running for the nearest phone though.

 

Aurora punched in the code for her door and let herself in and tried not to scream when she saw Mako primly sitting on her desk chair.

 

“How the hell did you get into my room?!”

 

“Sensei’s override code, he has one for the quarters in case of emergency.” Mako said, standing up and brushing imaginary dust off her shirt.

 

“Okay, that explains how you got into my room but not the why.” Aurora said, crossing the room and grabbing some sleeping clothes out of her dresser. “Mako, I respect you and your abilities, but I currently have little patience to deal with anyone in this ‘dome, so please just go.”

 

“I promise to be brief, but I would like to speak with you and I have been waiting quite a while for the opportunity to do it.”

 

“This isn’t about me letting the entire ‘dome know how I feel about your dad right now, is it? Cuz I am not taking that back.”

 

“Sort of. But not really.” Mako said.

 

“Alright, start talking.” Aurora sighed, realizing Mako would not go away until she had said her piece. She went into the bathroom but leaves the door cracked so she can hear Mako as she changed for bed.

 

“I realize that you would rather be piloting Striker Eureka with Chuck and that you consider it less than ideal that you should be going down with my father—“

 

“Because it’s practically suicide for him, but go on.” Aurora interrupted, kicking the door open so she and Mako could converse more easily.

 

“I also do not want him to go with you tomorrow.” Aurora looked up from applying her nighttime face mask in surprise. “I do not know how much you know about the nature of his… problems, but I agree with you in that he should not be your co-pilot tomorrow.”

 

“I know what your father would probably consider too much unfortunately thanks to getting some of Herc’s memories when I drifted with Chuck. I know that for those three hours, he and Sevier were awash in radiation because of the lack of proper shielding. And I know that he suffered severe neural scarring from piloting Coyote alone for three hours and the weight of another drift will kill him.”

 

“That is the largest part of it,” Mako said sadly, nodding her head once. “But he knows that if he does not go down with you, we are done for. And he would do anything to see this threat ended and no more lives destroyed.”

 

“Does that include killing himself in front of his child?” Aurora asked.

 

“He would not see it as killing himself. Sensei would see it as a worthy sacrifice of himself for those he cares for. I am in agreement that we should try something else, but we are out of options. The kaiju have derailed our plans completely and now we must plan as we go and come at them in ways they will not expect.”

 

“Then it’s a good thing that Newt knows nothing of what’s gone on since your drift test with Raleigh.”

 

“Perhaps,” Mako allowed, a ghost of a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. “But they will not expect four people willing to do what is necessary to end this war.”

 

Mako moved toward the door. “I shall leave you to sleep and impede upon your patience no longer. I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Aurora.”

 

“Good night, Miss Mori.”

 

“Mako. We are going to fight and maybe die together tomorrow, you can call me Mako.”

 

“Alright. Good night, Mako.”

 

Mako dipped her head once in farewell and Aurora shut her door before heading for her bed.

 

Knowing she won’t get to sleep for a while, Aurora attempted to meditate while lying down to try and relax so she can get some quality hours of sleep in since she’ll need to be on top of her game tomorrow.

 


	19. Operation Pitfall Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the beginning of the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used the speech from the movie in this chapter -- I couldn't not have it, it's too good to leave out. So, that belongs to GDT and the script writers, not me. Also, yeah, forgive the Russian in this chapter, I used Google translate and I'm quite sure it's not perfect but it is all I have. Translation of the sentences is included at notes at the end of the chapter.

At some point in the last day Aurora’s room had been wired to the AI for Striker Eureka because at 8:45 she’s flying out of her bed and onto the floor after “Ranger Talmadge, it is 8:45. This is your wake up call. Deputy Marshal Hansen suggests you get some breakfast” sounds in her room, loud as the kaiju alarm itself.

 

“That was for yesterday, wasn’t it.” Aurora groaned as she picked herself up off her floor.

 

“Would you like me to relay that response to Deputy Marshal Hansen or Ranger Hansen?”

 

“Deputy Marshal McVindictive.”

 

“Sending… Sending… Message sent.”

 

Aurora dumped her sheets on her bed and headed into her bathroom. Emerging from her room fifteen minutes later, hair slicked back and wet, Aurora headed for the mess.

 

Aurora gets in the short line for the buffet, not really feeling up to eating much of anything – the nerves catching up to her – but she can’t go without eating.

 

“I’ll have a bowl of oatmeal, please.” Aurora said when it was her turn to order.

 

“Of course, Ranger Talmadge. One bowl of freshly made oatmeal coming right up. You want anything bonus in it? We got some dried fruits, jelly, jam, sugar, and for reasons I do not understand – treacle.”

 

“It’s an English thing, I don’t totally get it either. And I’ll take some dried fruit.” The mess worker manning the oatmeal pot takes a clean ladle and picked up an incredibly liberal scoop of the dried fruit and dumped it into Aurora’s oatmeal.

 

“You need all the nourishment you can get today sweetie,” She said with a wink as she passed Aurora her bowl.

 

“Thank you,” Aurora said.

 

By the time she gets to her seat Aurora has her bowl of oatmeal, two fresh pieces of toast with the butter still melting on it as she sits down, a carton of orange juice, a carton of milk and a small plate of scrambled eggs with peppers and mushrooms mixed in.

 

Aurora tried to enjoy it, she did. But it all had too much of the feeling of a final meal to it and it tasted like ash in her mouth. People trickle into the mess in one’s and two’s and small groups and the place slowly filled up, but there was none of the usual cheerful morning chatter.

 

“Please tell me you’re going to eat more than _that_.” Chuck chided as he slid into place next to Aurora with his own breakfast tray.

 

Aurora ambivalently shrugged. “’m not hungry.”

 

Chuck gently nudged Aurora with his shoulder. “You’ll need the calories, trust me. Just try to forget what happens after breakfast and swallow some more down.” Chuck whistled and Max comes trotting over from where he’d been cheering up some Shatterdome personnel and obediently parked his butt on the floor in front of Chuck.

 

Chuck pointed to Aurora and went “Max. Aurora needs cuddles.”

 

Max barked in response and proceeded to jump up on the bench, scrabbling only a little, and worked his way under Aurora’s arm and onto her lap, laying his head on her other arm.

 

“Thanks.” Aurora said in a small voice, gently petting Max’s head. “Hey, Chuck, I want you to promise me something.”

 

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no. We are not doing this at breakfast. We are not doing this at _all_.”

 

“I wasn’t finished, you panicking tosspot. _Anyway_ – regardless of what happens today, promise me that you and your old man will try to work out your problems and actually talk to each other.”

 

“We do talk!”

 

“Through your dog.” Aurora deadpanned. “I’ve known you for five years, do not try to shine me on this. If all goes as planned and we close the breach – you’re 21, for fuck’s sake. You and your dad still have decades ahead of you and it’d be a shame to let your issues with each other keep you from actually having a relationship.”

 

Chuck waffled and blustered for a moment before he caved. “Fine. After this is over and done with I’ll talk to my old man about… _therapy_.” The curl of his lip and the sneer in his voice at the idea made Aurora smile.

 

Aurora finished her breakfast with Max cuddling her (and eating a free plate of eggs) and Chuck trying to distract her from what she’d be doing in less than three hours’ time.

 

Before she has to report to the drive suit room, Aurora headed up to medical. Gullbrandsen breaks the rules by allowing Aurora into the Kaidonovsky’s room without climbing into a protective suit first.

 

“Hell, if there ever was a day to bend or break the rules entirely, it would be today.” Gullbrandsen told Aurora as he let her into the room himself.

 

“Today is big day.” Aleksis carefully remarked.

 

“Yeah, it is.” Aurora said handing Aleksis her hairbrush and sitting on her bed with her back to Aleksis.

 

“How are you feeling?” Sasha asked as Aleksis began brushing all the tugs and tangles out of Aurora’s hair.

 

“Nervous. Like I want to vomit. God, do I ever want to vomit right now.”

 

“Is understandable. Everything rides on today. That’s big responsibility for anyone, let alone…”

 

“A still green rookie.” Aurora supplied when Sasha trailed off.

 

“You fought kaiju and killed it with assistance from Gipsy; you are not entirely green anymore.” Sasha pointed out as Aleksis sectioned off Aurora’s hair and began braiding it.

 

“I think I’d feel a little less like vomiting my body weight into a toilet if we were going down there with the original four.”

 

“We feel same way, malyutka. But we will be with you in spirit.” Aleksis gently promised.

  
“As will spirit of every jaeger before us.” Sasha added, leaning over to hold Aurora’s hand.

 

They sit like that, in silence, as Aleksis seamlessly braided Aurora’s hair into a French braid that circled her head like a crown, with the end cunningly tucked into her hair so nothing would be in the way of the helmet. Once she’s finished braiding Aurora’s hair, Aleksis reached up and tried to gently massage away the hard lines of tension in Aurora’s shoulders.

 

There were no ifs, ands, or buts about this situation. If their jaeger, their Cherno Alpha, had not been destroyed by the acid spit from that one fucking kaiju, and had neither Hansen been injured, they would gladly have gone down to the Mariana Trench with Aurora in LOCCENT instead. Either one of them would have gladly volunteered to go down in Striker Eureka themselves rather than send Aurora and Pentecost down there. That is the nature of things, is it not? Being willing to throw your own self into certain danger and almost certain death so your loved ones don’t have to?

 

They stay that way, quiet, enjoying what could be the last minutes in each other’s company until Doctor Gullbrandsen comes back in to inform Aurora that it’s time for her to head to the drive suit room.

 

“Thank you,” Aurora said tightly, her nod jerky. Her mouth suddenly felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton and swallowing was hard.

 

She clambered off of Aleksis’ bed as the Russians did the same. Aurora wasn’t expecting the tight group hug that followed, but god, did she ever love them for it.

 

“Idi tuda i pokazat' eti ublyudki oni pereputalis's nepravil'nym gonki.” Sasha murmured.

 

“YA budu.”

 

“Teper' idite , prezhde chem my obluchat' vas."

 

Aurora laughed weakly. “Yes, ma’am, Aleks. I love you guys.”

 

Aurora headed directly to the drivesuit room from medical. She stands there as the techs move around her and fit her into the circuitry suit. And it is as they are buckling on the first piece of body armor that Aurora feels a sudden and immediate urge to ralph.

 

“I need a bucket. Or a trash can.” Aurora gritted out, pressing her hand hard to her mouth.

 

A quick moving tech grabs the trash can and thrusts it into the area under Aurora as she managed to vomit into the trash can. Aurora coughed once, twice as her system finished emptying itself.

 

“Sorry,” Aurora hoarsely apologized as she wiped her mouth with a thoughtfully offered tissue.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” A tech, the same one who had told Aurora the drivesuit story the very first time she suited up, handed Aurora a bottle of mouthwash. Aurora duly swished half the bottle into the trash can until her mouth felt clean again.

 

“Thank you for the mouthwash.” Aurora said as they strapped her into the rest of the body armor.

 

“All part of the job,” Aurora’s reassured by the technicians as she left the room, helmet tucked under her arm. Aurora stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway because Cherno Alpha’s entire crew is waiting around in the hallway.

 

“Uhhhhhhh… hi guys?”

 

Dmitri stepped forward. “We came to escort you to jaeger bay since Sasha and Aleksis cannot.”

 

Aurora nodded, swallowing thickly. “Spasibo. Dlya menya bol'shaya chest'.”

 

Cherno Alpha’s crew form around and behind Aurora as they walk through the hallways to the jaeger bay. As the massive double doors into the bay open and Aurora and her honor guard walk through them, Aurora saw that she was the last to arrive and walked the final few steps alone.

 

“What’s with the scary looking Russians?” Chuck asked, waving a hand to encompass the group who were now mingling and speaking with their counterparts for the other jaegers.

 

“An honor guard. They walked me down here since Sasha and Aleks couldn’t.” Aurora explained.

 

“Always knew I liked Russians for a reason.” Herc said, nodding to Dmitri.

 

“Everything okay as it can be in the Mori/Pentecost household?” Aurora asked, delicately jerking her head in their direction, a few feet away.

 

“Yeah. Just… you know… family stuff.” Tendo awkwardly offered up. “By the way, I have your hundred bucks in my pocket.”

 

“Keep it, Tender. Use it to buy some nice alcohol for the Cancelled Apocalypse Party.” Aurora told the LOCCENT chief before Stacker’s voice echoed and rang out in the massive jaeger bay.

 

“Everyone! Listen up!” Stacker turned away from Mako and up onto a mangled piece of either Crimson Typhoon or Cherno Alpha. Everyone gathered closer to hear what the Marshal had to say, Aurora, Chuck, Mako, Herc and Raleigh at the front of the crowd. “Today. Today, at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other! Today there’s not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door and bring the fight to them! Today, _we are cancelling the apocalypse!_ ”

 

Everyone clapped at the rousing speech, but Aurora only felt the roiling nausea again and the fear. Chuck grasped Aurora by the hand and gave it a hard, tight squeeze as Pentecost made his way to them through the throng.

 

“Ready to go, Ranger Talmadge?” Pentecost asked.

 

“Yes, just…” Aurora squatted down to where Max had patiently been sitting next to Herc. Aurora gave Max all the pets, getting him in just the right spot that he loved having scratched – to the level that he lost control of his little butt it wiggled so hard.

 

“Now, listen to me, you adorable pile of wrinkles. You have an important job to do; I need you to look after the two most emotionally bunged up idiots I’ve ever met, okay? You look after them and don’t be afraid to let them know when they’re being stupid and not talking, okay, Max?”

 

Max whoofed and lunged up to lick Aurora on the cheek. Aurora just laughed and gave him a final head rub before standing.

 

“I’m ready now, sir.”

 

“Very good.” Pentecost headed in the direction of the lifts that would take them to the conn pod and they don’t get more than a few feet away before Aurora started to feel distinctly uncomfortable.

 

“I can feel Chuck’s eyes boring a hole into the back of my head. Please tell me he’s not crying.”

 

Stacker turned his head a little and then looks to Aurora. “Would you like me to lie to you?”

 

Aurora stopped walking, head dropping back to look at the sky. “Fucking bollocks. Hold my helmet.” She shoved said object at Pentecost without waiting for a response and stalked back to Chuck, grabbing the young ranger to her in a fierce hug.

 

“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” Aurora whispered in Chuck’s ear.

 

“Did you just quote Winnie the fucking Pooh at me?” Chuck mumbled into Aurora’s neck.

 

“Of course I did. It’s my favorite thing he’s ever said.” Aurora pressed a kiss to Chuck’s temple before gently disengaging herself from Chuck and heading back to Pentecost. Pentecost handed her her helmet once Aurora is close enough, following that with linking his free arm through hers as they headed off toward the conn-pod. Though that might have been to help Aurora walk straight more than anything; she was trying not to cry in front of everyone cuz they were still in the jaeger bay and thus couldn’t see through the tears.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idi tuda i pokazat' eti ublyudki oni pereputalis's nepravil'nym gonki. -- Go out there and show those bastards they messed with the wrong race.
> 
> YA budu. -- I will
> 
> Teper' idite , prezhde chem my obluchat' vas. -- Now go, before we irradiate you.
> 
> Spasibo. Dlya menya bol'shaya chest'. -- Thank you. I am honored.


	20. going Deep Beneath the Pacific

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ironically enough, I was listening to this track when I started to write this chapter, so y'all knows what's going to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaand this is the chapter where the Deadpool reference comes in. It's a little blink-and-you-miss-it.

Stacker and Aurora step into the elevator, facing the back wall until the doors slide shut. Aurora bent over and put her hands on her knees and taking slow deep breaths until the urge to bawl passed.

 

“You got a little under your eye there,” Stacker said as the door opened.

 

“Thanks,” Aurora sniffed, wiping her finger under each eye and flicking off any tears that managed to escape.

 

“Don’t mention it.” Stacker calmly said as he put his helmet on.

 

Aurora put her helmet on and they both climb into Striker Eureka’s conn pod, climbing into their respective harnesses (Aurora on the left and Pentecost on the right) as the technicians move in to finish hooking them up.

 

After that it’s just waiting for the magnets to attach and the jumphawks to lift them out of the Shatterdome and carry them out into the Pacific.

 

A few minutes before reaching the drop zone, Tendo’s voice rang out in the conn pod. “Alright, boys and girls, I am initiating the neural handshake in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”

 

Aurora in a nebulous way felt her body being sucked back into the harness as her mind was connected to Pentecost’s, but that’s soon lost in the rush of sensations following the memories.

 

Aurora sees Pentecost playing with his sister merging with her chasing Abel around her backyard. Those memories merge into more and more, Pentecost testing the arm of a jaeger way back at the beginning of the Jaeger Program; Aurora graduating from college merged into the funerals for her grandfather and Pentecost’s father. All that and more, including a few that Aurora ignores the _hell_ out of fly by before it all settles out and she knows that the two of them have connected and are drifting.

 

“Neural handshakes have been initiated. Two drifts holding steady. Hey, Aurora, you wanna hear something funny?”

 

“The breach has collapsed on itself and we can all now get drunk and fat?”

 

“God, don’t I wish. But, no. Your drift with Chuck in 2020 was at 70%. Successful drifts are measured at 90% or higher. Your drift with him a few days ago was at 92% at the beginning and actually rose before Tisane tried to eat Striker’s head. Wanna take a guess what level you and Pentecost are sitting at now?”

 

“Tendo, I haven’t the slightest fucking clue. We could be sitting at—at – at 2% for all I know – generation one pilots can drift with _anyone_. But I would hardly deny you the chance to gleefully deliver the news, so lay it on me.”

 

“100%.” Tendo’s voice is so laden with glee as to be practically dripping with it and Aurora can imagine the mile wide shit-eating grin on his face as she loudly ejaculated:

 

“FUCK ME. FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK ME.”

 

“Congratulations, Aurora: You finally found someone you have drift compatibility with.”

 

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT.”

 

“Language.”

 

“Suck a cock!” Comes out of Aurora’s mouth before she can think about what she’s said and she slapped her hand to her mouth, or, rather, the front of her helmet where her mouth would be if she were helmet-less.

 

“Luckily for you, I also enjoyed that movie.” Pentecost said, clearly amused.

 

“I need someone in LOCCENT to haul backside down to medical and tell Aleksis that I’ve finally found my co-pilot and remind her of the conversation we had after I came back to Vladivostok from Sydney.”

 

“Do I want to know why I just sent a runner down to medical?” Tendo asked.

 

“Because of reasons, Tender.”

 

“The cheek.” Stacker muttered, clearly having spotted the memory in the drift.

 

“Yeah, but…”

 

“That’s for me and my – this is still really goddamn weird to think about – co-pilot to know and you to probably never find out.”

 

“You suck. We’ve been working together almost a year, Rory!”

 

The runner came back a few minutes after that and informed Aurora that Aleksis had laughed so hard she’d fallen out of her bed in medical apparently declaring “I regret nothing!”

 

Everything is running normal as Herc informed both Gipsy and Striker that the two kaiju are codenamed Scunner and Raiju and they are, still, circling the breach. A moment or two after confirmation from Pentecost and Raleigh that they’ve received that information, Aurora’s voice came over the comm.

 

“Striker Eureka’s comm-system shall be going offline for a few moments as her pilots are about to have a domestic about the pot calling the kettle black and I don’t want it accidentally broadcast across the entire system.” Aurora’s voice in the prissiest, so sugary sweet that you know she’s getting mad tone possible floats through the speakers and Herc gets barely a syllable out before communication is indeed cut.

 

“They’ve been co-piloting Striker for less than an hour and already they’re fighting?” Chuck weakly joked.

 

“Choi, can you force the comm-system to turn back on?”

 

“I’m… trying.” Tendo says, hitting various keys. “But I can’t. Something’s overriding my override commands.”

 

Herc just swivels his head and looks at his son. He doesn’t say anything, just looks. It takes all of five seconds before Chuck starts to fidget in his seat and all of 15 seconds before he’s divulging that he may have told Aurora how to override the LOCCENT override codes from inside Striker.

 

The silence from Striker Eureka stretches on and Tendo keeps on trying (and failing) to remotely turn the comm-system back on.

 

“Ranger Hansen, sir, we are five minutes from the drop zone; has Striker Eureka turned their comm-systems back on?”

 

“Negative.”

 

“What are we to do then, sir?”

 

“Carry on as usual. They’ll just be in for a bit of surprise if you have to drop them without warning.” Herc darkly chuckled.

 

With precisely 1 minutes and 05 seconds to spare, Pentecost announces that Striker’s comm-system is back online – obviously – and the domestic has been sorted.

 

“Dare I ask—“

 

“No.” Both Stacker and Aurora say, emphatic. Chuck sniggered into his fist at the look on his father’s face.

 

“Disengaging transports.” Tendo called out as the magnets disengaged and both jaegers are dropped into the ocean.

 

Aurora and Pentecost braced against the impact, following it so that Striker Eureka’s face is nearly parallel with the surface of the ocean.

 

“LOCCENT control, all ports sealed and ready to submerge.”

 

Raleigh’s voice is a beat behind him, echoing the statements as any and all vents and ports on the jaegers close as they start walking down toward the Breach. It didn’t take long before visibility went straight to hell.

 

Stacker outlined how it was half a mile to the ocean cliff, then they would jump.

 

“How the hell are we supposed to see anything out here, much less make it half a bloody mile? Visibility is at zero!” Aurora somewhat rhetorically asked as they kept putting one foot in front of the other and drew ever closer to the Breach.

 

Tendo’s voice cut in on any reply Stacker was going to make with a warning to Gipsy that he was detecting a fast moving signature on Gipsy’s right.

 

“There’s nothing on our right!” Raleigh replied as Tendo reported that it was now on Gipsy’s left and it was the faster moving kaiju on record.

 

This little bastard was trying to do something – likely put them off their game, moving too fast for them to visibly catch it.

 

“Eyes on the prize, people! We are six hundred meters from the Breach!” Aurora broadcast after checking her instruments. “Here we go!” Aurora called out, feeling some small part of her whoop in glee at the weightless sensation in her stomach as Striker Eureka jumped off the cliff and stuck her landing.

 

“Four hundred meters and closing!” Pentecost called out.

 

They moved a step closer. And then another step. And another. The instruments registered that they were now just 300 meters from the Breach when Tendo called out that the kaiju had stopped moving and Stacker stopped moving too.

 

“Why are we stopping?!” Aurora demanded.

  
“They’ve stopped! Why the hell are they stopping?!” Pentecost yelled.

 

“I COULD GIVE TWO FLYING SHITS WHY! WE ARE LESS THAN 300 METERS FROM THE BREACH!”

 

Herc is urging them over the comm to take the leap and then Aurora heard it in the background and getting louder every second, Newton shrieking something unintelligible, his voice is so shrill that she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

 

“B-Blowing up the breach is not going to work!” Newton screamed into the microphone.

 

Stacker immediately put his finger to the transmit button. “What do you mean? What’s not gonna work?”

 

In tandem, Newt and Hermann very quickly explained that even though the Breach was open, there was no way we were getting the bomb through it; the Breach acted like a scanner of sorts, reading the kaiju’s DNA and only allowing that through the Breach; that was why all the previous attempts to bomb the Breach had ended in failure. The only way to deliver that bomb was to trick the Breach into thinking that they were a kaiju.

 

“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Raleigh asked. _Good question_ , Aurora thought.

 

“You need to grab a kaiju and ride it into the Breach,” Hermann said before he was presumably elbowed out of the way by Herc because his was the next voice heard, followed by a stressed sounding Tendo, saying that there was a third signature coming from the Breach.

 

Both Stacker and Aurora turn their heads and looked in the direction of the Breach.

 

“The triple event.” Stacker said, sounding very tired as _things_ began happening in the water around the Breach. “What size is it? How big is it?”

 

“Striker, it’s a Category V.” Herc said. “The first ever.”

 

“Oh fuck me.” Aurora said in a small voice as the monster began to claw its way out of the Breach and into her world.

 

Aurora felt a gentle squeeze on her elbow and looked at Pentecost.

 

“We got this.” He said, looking her dead in the eye and Aurora was damned if she didn’t believe him a little bit.

 

The kaiju rose and rose up out of the Breach, before settling in the water not a hundred meters in front of them and roared. Even though it can’t hear them, Pentecost and Aurora roar back as they complete the movement in sync to bring out Striker’s wrist gauntlets. And it. is. on.

 

Raleigh’s outlining what Gipsy will do to help them fight this kaiju when his voice cuts out. And then the spinning tentacles, rapidly gaining speed, well, that’s hardly good.

 

“Brace for impact!” Stacker called out but the thing hit them so hard that it sent Striker flying back on its ass, sliding into and breaking an underground heat vent.

 

“Well, fuck.” Aurora said with a shake of her head as she and Pentecost got Striker back on her feet. Then: “SHIT. Stacker – the release for the payload! It’s gone and fucking jammed!”

 

Pentecost lets rip an equally impressive string of swear words that was comparable to what Aurora had let rip earlier.

 

“We’re still good but—but the hull’s compromised.” Aurora said, checking other systems and casting a wary eye at the walls that were now starting to leak like a colander.

 

“And half our systems are off-line. We need to override the—“ And just what they need to override, Aurora never heard because Pentecost’s attention is drawn to the visor, and as she follows to look in the same direction the visor is suddenly full of kaiju ramming into them and knocking them off their feet.

 

“BLOODY BUGGERY!” Aurora yelled as the kaiju proceeded to ram through several things and down a drop and into the sea bed.

 

Aurora had tried not to scream as Striker’s back had hit that underground vent, she had. She also bit back as much of a yell as she could when Slattern dropped Striker on her back and then proceeded to drag them _hard_ through the sea bed. But fuck if it didn’t hurt and fuuuuuuck when Stacker realized something was up.

 

“Aurora, is everything okay down there? You’re showing very elevated levels of… everything.” Tendo asked.

 

“What the hell did you do, Ranger??” Pentecost yelled at her.

 

“Technically, Pentecost, I didn’t _do_ anything. Striker’s electricians did.”

 

“What did they do?” Pentecost growled. _Growled_. Aurora debated about telling him, since what she had done was either hidden in the myriad memories of the drift or her brain was managing to hide it from him. But Slattern re-claimed their attention.

 

The pair of them fight, hard, in this weird dance they have going on in the almost weightlessness of the water. Aurora got a slice in at the kaiju’s body and all of a sudden there’s some kaiju blue floating in the water as together Aurora and Pentecost get it off of them.

 

The pair of them surged forward and stabbed the wrist gauntlets into the kaiju’s chest, aiming for maximum damage, shoving them deep as they’ll go and deeper, almost _almost_ cutting two of its arms off.

 

“Are those – soundwaves?” Aurora asked. As the kaiju let out a repeated call.

 

“Yes. It’s calling for help.” Stacker grimly surmised. “Brace yourself, Aurora.”

 

“Yippee-kai-yay.” Aurora said, hitting a few buttons on her panel, trying to create a work-around to the damaged automatic release.

 

Raleigh’s in the middle of relaying that he and Mako are hauling ass as best they can to try and reach us when Stacker interrupted him.

 

“No, Gipsy! Stay where you are! Do NOT come to our aid! Do you copy?”

 

“Raleigh bloody Becket, you listen to your Marshal and keep your jaeger parked where it is!” Aurora yelled, because she’s cottoned on to why Stacker wants them to stay far back and it is imperative that Gipsy stays back.

 

“Stay as far back as you can!”

 

“We can still reach you!” Raleigh insisted.

 

“No, Raleigh, you utter arsehead, listen to me!” Stacker implored as Aurora pulled her helmet off and it clattered to the floor. It suddenly felt too tight on her and she felt the need to breathe freely. Stacker went on to explain to Raleigh that they could use Gipsy as a nuclear device, because of her reactor core.

 

Aurora pretended to be inspecting her panel as Stacker spoke to Mako and she imagined Raleigh was doing much the same in Gipsy’s conn pod. It wasn’t fair. By all the fucking gods this was the most unfair bullshit she had ever been witness to in her life.

 

“Here comes the other one.” Aurora said dully, pointing. “What shall we do?”

 

“We are going to clear a path for the lady!”

 

Aurora nodded. “Yes, we can. Well, it’s like my ex-boyfriend always said. If someone can kick your ass and you didn’t see it coming, they deserve respect. Let’s show them how ‘explosively’ respectful we are. It’s been a pleasure, sir.”

 

Saying nothing, Stacker and Aurora armed the bomb on Striker’s back. They watched as both kaiju raced to converge on them, fingers poised on the last switch. There was one last transmission – from Mako – and the switch is flicked.

 


	21. Epilogue

Raleigh and Mako are just climbing into a jumphawk when Tendo’s calling the jumphawks and his voice is shaking.

 

“There’s a third pod.”

  
“There’s a what?!” Raleigh had yelled into a headset suddenly crammed on his head by a member of the jumphawk’s crew. No one missed the sharp way Mako’s head whipped around nor the intense way she stared at the headset on Raleigh’s head.

 

“A third pod. My instruments are picking up a third pod. Holy shit, a third pod.”

 

“WHERE, Tendo?” Raleigh yelled to be heard over the whirring blades of the chopper.

 

“About 2 miles due east of your current location. I’m not picking up life signs, but if it’s a pod from Striker Eureka, there’s a good chance the beacons and monitoring systems are too damaged to emit.”

 

“You heard the man, Kadinsky! Head two miles due east!” A member of the crew yelled into his own headset.

 

The chopper rose above its fellows and banked slightly and started heading east. Two crew members, in record time, get a roll up emergency ladder out and laying on their bellies, hanging out the open chopper door, affix it to the landing skid.

 

“I’ll go down and check, you stay up here and keep in contact with Tendo, okay?” Raleigh requested of Mako.

 

Mako nodded and took the handset off of Raleigh’s head and put it on her own. Raleigh put his hand on her arm and they shared a silent moment before Raleigh turned and started climbing down the ladder, stopping when his feet hit the very last rung. He hung on for the last few moments of the flight, waited as the pilot got as close to the ocean’s surface as he dared, and dropped the last few feet into the ocean.

 

Raleigh surfaced and began swimming toward the khaki-green pod. He pulled himself up onto it and ripped the top of off with strength borne of desperation and impossible hope.

 

“IT’S AURORA!” He screamed back at the jumphawk, at the heads peeking out of the open door. He was looking at Mako when he screamed and he figured she had read his lips when he saw her nod curtly at the same time her face took on a shuttered look.

 

Turning back to the currently unconscious woman he’s unfortunately kind of almost kneeling on, Raleigh felt for a pulse; it was there, thready and fluttering. And then it wasn’t.

 

“OH, like hell.” Raleigh growled, not bothering with the clasps and straight up snapping Aurora’s chest plate off her body and tossing it into the ocean with nary a care as he dove in and began CPR.

 

A basket and a member of the jumphawk crew descended; all the jumphawk crew members were trained in Search and Rescue.

 

“How long have you been doing CPR, Ranger?”

 

“About 2 minutes,” Raleigh said, kneeling back down to gently blow air into Aurora’s lungs before resuming the chest compressions. “She had a pulse, it was weak and then it just dropped.”

 

The man nodded and then he opened the bag he’d been dropped down with and went to town stabilizing Aurora, using Raleigh as his nurse. Time is of the essence.

 

Aurora is snapped into a neck brace, her vitals are taken after Raleigh got her heart re-started and she’s maneuvered into the basket and lifted into the jumphawk. Raleigh and the jumphawk crew member get back into the chopper and they are taking off with all speed back toward Hong Kong.

 

“You’re going to want to check her brain out,” Raleigh called in the chopper on the way back. “Have Doctor Lewis or Guyere waiting in medical for when we get back to the ‘dome.”

 

The crewman he tells this to nodded and mumbled something into his headset.

 

Raleigh eventually had nothing to do and goes to sit in the unoccupied seat next to Mako. The same Mako who has not looked up from her lap once since Raleigh climbed back into the chopper. Raleigh leant over and took her hand and had it resting on his leg and gently patted the back of her hand with his other hand.

 

They sit together in silence, Raleigh just being there for Mako as they make the flight back to the Shatterdome.

 

Aurora is taken off the chopper first and whisked inside by the medical staff; Guyere had been on the landing pad and had done what might have been the world’s fastest examination and took off after the stretcher Aurora was on.

 

“Ranger Becket, Ranger Mori, I need you two to follow me to medical.” A nurse that looked vaguely familiar to Raleigh walked up to the pair of them.

 

“Evaluations, I understand.” Mako numbly said.

 

Herc and Chuck and Cherno Alpha’s crew were already crowding the front lobby of medical when Raleigh and Mako were brought in to be evaluated.

 

It is some hours before they’re let out and Raleigh is somewhat entertained by the muffled but still audible squawking coming from Newt at the ‘indignity’ of being held overnight for observation.

 

They wanted to keep Raleigh overnight to keep an eye on him; there was some talk of him suffering neural scarring similar to Pentecost and the doctor’s wanted to keep an eye on it.

 

“Alright, fine. But can I go wait with the others?”

 

“Of course. Someone will come to collect you… eventually.”

 

Raleigh nodded, thanked the doctor and walked back out to the lobby. He gets out there and there’s no Herc and no Mako but an open seat next to Chuck.

 

Raleigh ambled over and sat down, absently petting Max when the bulldog came to visit.

 

“Where’s your dad?”

 

“Went to go see Mako.” Chuck said dully.

 

Raleigh looked at him; the kid’s eyes were still rimmed red and bloodshot and the way he did not take his hands off his dog spoke volumes. “You gonna be okay?”

 

“I heard that you were the one who started CPR after… after…”

 

“Yeah, I was.” Raleigh quietly answered.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Raleigh nodded and after that the two rangers sit there in silence, Max sleeping on Chuck’s lap as Cherno’s crew conversed in quiet Russian around them. Hermann and Newt wandered into the lobby an hour or two after Raleigh had; Hermann making heavy use of Newt as a prop me up.

 

Now, all they had to do was sit there. And wait.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are -- the end of the story. Thank you for those of you that read it and commented on it and left kudos. I hope you guys enjoyed it.


End file.
